VIDEO: Officers Jump Into River to Rescue Woman From Sinking Car

A young woman is alive to see another day, thanks to three police officers who jumped into the water.

Delaware County Dispatch received a call Sunday morning just before 1:30am from a young woman who was trapped in her car.

According to Fox59, the 18-year-old told the dispatcher, “Hello, I – I’m in the White River and my car — the doors won’t open. I – I don’t know what happened.”

The dispatcher stayed on the phone for six minutes, talking with the young woman, keeping her calm and learning more information to help officers find her.

A Ball State University freshman, the driver told the dispatcher she wasn't sure what happened. She thought she quickly closed her eyes but the next thing she knew was that she was in the river.

Officer Casey Bell, a 3-year officer of the department, arrived and saw the woman's hatchback, and the car was almost completely submerged.

“I went completely to the bottom of the hill just to see what was going on. Once I got down there, I took all my gear off, jumped in the river and saw that there was a female trapped in the driver’s seat,” Officer Bell told Fox59. “I tried to open the door and it wouldn’t open from the outside.”

“As I’m coming down the hill he’s asking for a baton,” said Sergeant James Lenox, an 18-year veteran of the department. “I was going to start taking all my gear off until I was like, we ain’t got time.”

Not far behind them, Sergeant Greg Skaggs pulled up to the scene.

“I pulled up and see that they’re already getting in the water and I hear them trying to break the window,” he told them. “I immediately stripped my gear off as I’m going towards the river and jumped right in with them.”

The woman can be heard on the dispatch call, telling them the water is coming higher and higher, just before the officers arrived.

“It’s so cold and it’s coming up to my neck. It’s not stopping. Please help me."

“I started hitting the window until I could get a hole big enough just to stick my hand through,” Officer Bell said.

He couldn't pull the door open, but he was able to clear the window enough to pull the woman out.

“Once I removed her, the car was completely underwater. I mean it was a second after I removed her that it was completely underwater,” said Bell.

Cold and wet, the group returned to shore after Sergeant Lenox checked the car for other people, and transported the woman to the hospital for an evaluation.

Read more at Fox59

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