CAPE CORAL, Fla. — After a drunk driver crashed into a Cape Coral canal, an everyday unsung hero saved her life moments before they drowned.
Kyle Mann is a firefighter with the Cape Coral Fire Department (CCFD). Every day he and his team at Station No. 5 are face to face with danger and doing the unthinkable.
When the call came in just after 5 a.m. on March 25, Mann and his crew did what they do best: save lives.
In newly released body-worn camera footage released by the Cape Coral Police Department (CCPD), the world gets a first-hand look at the bravery and heroism of both Cape Coral Police officers and Cape Coral firefighters.
PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Body cam video shows heroic rescue by Cape Coral Police, firefighters
Inside the car that just crashed into a canal on NE 12th Street near NE 9th Avenue is Flabia Parades-Lamas. The 30-year-old Cape Coral resident was on the phone with 911 as her car sank with her trapped inside. Her final breath was on the phone with emergency dispatchers before the call dropped.
“The call came in as a car in the water,” said CCFD Battalion Chief Eric Hawkins. “It’s something that we’ve heard several times.”
By the time Hawkins and his crew arrived, the car was already underwater.
“4302. The vehicle is fully submerged underwater,” said a police officer.
Cape Coral Police arrived at the scene first, jumping into the water to try and save Paredes-Lamas.
“4330. Myself and Tango 42 are going to go in the water. Someone’s still in the vehicle,” another officer said in body cam recordings.
They weren’t able to reach the woman who was running out of time. Moments later, the crew from fire station No 5. Arrived.
“My first initial thing is just react. There’s somebody in the car. We have to get there,” said firefighter Kyle Mann.
Before a ladder was even taken off the fire truck, Mann was in the water and swimming to the car sitting just beneath the surface of the water.
“I reached down, I feel the door handle. The doors locked,” Mann said. “And then I get my life hammer and I immediately start breaking the window. Once I got the window broken, I had to come up, get some air. I told PD, ‘Hey. I got the window broken. I’m getting ready to get her out.’ I felt her immediately on the inside. She was already out of her seatbelt. So I just pulled her right out.”
The body cam video is too dark to see this happen and too dark to see his reaction.
“She was unconscious,” Mann said. “It was very close. Like I said, she was extremely limp when we pulled her out. When I pulled her out of the vehicle, I was unsure.”
In the video, you see Mann swim to shore. Firefighters, including his Battalion Chief, are getting ready to pull Paredes-Lamas from the water.
“Ready? One, two, three,” the emergency responders say in unison.
“Everybody getting on the ladder,” Hawkins told NBC2. “You saw how we all pulled her up. That’s how we train.”
Not even the hours of training can prepare them for the unknown. Will she make it? Did they save her?
“I was unsure until, like I said, I heard the faint cough come across,” Mann said. “And I took a sigh of relief, essentially that we made it.”
Medics were somehow able to bring Paredes-Lamas back to life. You can see her sitting wrapped in a blanket on the back of the ambulance.
“It’s a really great feeling knowing that that person is able to still be walking and talking after an event like that,” Mann said.
“It was good to see that all come together and work,” added Hawkins.
The Cape Coral Police Department arrested Paredes-Lamas for drunk driving. She was found guilty earlier this month.
While she’s facing some consequences, at least she’s here to deal with them, all thanks to the heroic actions that morning.
“Very grateful, but I’m no hero,” Mann said. “I’m just a guy who signed up for the fire department and love what I do.”