VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. (WFLA) — A Central Florida sheriff’s office released dramatic video of deputies rescuing a 73-year-old woman from her sinking car Saturday night.
Deputies said the driver crashed into a retention pond and was unable to escape her sinking vehicle.
Deputy Nicholas Maletto, the first on the scene, headed into the water and began instructing the woman to work her way to the backseat so she could get to the open door. The front doors were already submerged in water and would not open.
He can be heard shouting, “Climb out to the back! Climb out to the back right now! The door’s open.”
The woman is heard responding, “I’m trying.”
As the deputy checked to see if the woman was unbuckled, he shouted, “Come on, get out! Forget your purse! Let’s go!”
Deputy Patrick O’Melia soon arrived, and he and Maletto pulled the woman out of her car and onto shore. O’Melia even managed to save the woman’s purse on the way out.
One of the deputies is heard on the video saying, “We got the female out. The vehicle is all the way underwater.”
