“That’s our job is to help people,” St. Louis County Police Officer Victoria Sarver said.
ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. — Several North St. Louis County first responders are being recognized for their heroic actions Monday.
St. Louis County police officers and Black Jack firefighters saved a man who had crashed his truck into a neighborhood pond.
It happened around 4:30 p.m. on Monday near the intersection of Vaile Avenue and Fleur Du Bois Drive.
“We got there pretty quickly, and the vehicle was still above water — and you can see that a subject was inside. He was moving but not making any attempts to get out. So, I don’t know if there were medical issues or what was going on there,” St. Louis County police officer Victoria Sarver said.
“But we immediately gear down to go in and get him and then we realized the fire department was gearing up into cold water gear,” she said.
All of this was caught on St. Louis County Police body cameras.
Black Jack Fire Department Acting Captain Scott Keeven said that’s when two firefighters in wet suits jumped into the pond.
“Pretty much right when we put them in the water, we saw the truck, lean forward, and it started going down quick. So luckily our guys were able to get there quickly, and they broke out the back window,” Capt. Keeven said.
But getting the victim out of the water wasn’t easy.
“The firefighter went down and grabbed him. The victim went underwater, the firefighter went underwater — the firefighter pops up for a second screams help and then me and the other officer just jumped into the water — and we start swimming out to aid,” St. Louis County police officer Don Shultz said.
They said as a team they were able to bring the man to shore and get him to the hospital.
“That’s our job is to help people. I don’t know, one officer that hears help and doesn’t run towards who needs help, and unfortunately most of the time, we don’t get to help as much as we want to,” Sarver said. “So, this was a great outcome to see him make it through it.”
St. Louis County Police said the man is expected to be okay, but they are still investigating how the truck ended up in the pond.
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