https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=321895466951853
By Mark Price
The Charlotte Observer
Two Florida sheriff’s deputies are credited with pulling off a rescue in pitch-black conditions after they discovered a car had vanished beneath the surface of a retention pond at 2:30 a.m.
It happened Saturday, Aug. 19, in Orlando, when a Nissan Altima crashed through a fence, went airborne and landed in a pond, investigators say.
Deputies Yortsan Gandia Ares and Tyler Casto of the Orange County Sheriff’s Office arrived soon after and heard a man crying for help in the “nasty debris-filled retention pond.”
“Upon entering the 16-foot deep pond, they found a man desperately struggling to stay afloat and an unconscious woman underwater,” officials said.
“The deputies pulled both to shore and administered CPR to the woman, reviving her before paramedics arrived.”
Body camera video shared Aug. 23 on Facebook shows the woman was unresponsive when brought to shore, and the deputies immediately began chest compressions.
“She’s breathing, baby,” one deputy is heard saying. “She’s got a pulse.”
The 42-year-old driver and 33-year-old woman were taken to a hospital with serious injuries, according to the Florida Highway Patrol. The driver told investigators the crash occurred due to him not realizing soon enough the road came to an end at the retention pond, officials said.
The two deputies are new to the department, having joined in March 2022, officials said.
Video of the rescue has been watched thousands of times on Facebook, where viewers have called the deputies “heroes” for diving into the pond without hesitation.
“This just brought tears to my eyes,” one commenter posted on Facebook.
“Lucky they didn’t encounter a gator or 2,” another wrote.
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