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(Daily Press) – A Gloucester County deputy has been credited with saving the life of a man who eluded police through four counties last fall.

At the time, the man was believed to have been involved in a stabbing in Lancaster County, according to officials. He has since been charged and is awaiting trial.

The night started quietly for Gloucester Deputy Chris Sigley. It would not end that way.

“We don’t like to use the word quiet,” Sigley said. “You never know what will happen.”

Around 11:52 p.m. on Nov. 18, Sigley and two other deputies – Sgt. Larry Sullivan and Deputy Nelson Groom – got word that a man who may have just committed a violent crime in Lancaster County was headed their way. They were told to look for two cars, possibly coming from the direction of Mathews County on Route 14.

Sigley was waiting in his patrol car near Main Street when he saw a vehicle careen over the hill at Hillside on Route 14. He knew the car was not going to be able to make the turn at the stop light.

The wheels locked up, Sigley said, and the car jumped the curve, landing in the parking lot of the laundromat next to the Gloucester Main Street Center. The car ran the length of the parking lot then crashed into the guard rail over Fox Mill Run Creek.

As officers came to a stop near the crash, Sigley said, the man behind the wheel jumped over the small bridge into the water in the ravine below. Sigley said deputies ordered him to stop but he continued to move and quickly found himself in deep water.

Deputies made their way down to the water and called to him to kick his legs and get to the side, but it was obvious, Sigley said, that he could not swim.

Sigley said his first impulse was that he needed to get him out of the water. Then the man stopped moving.

“That’s when I decided to go into the water,” Sigley said.

He removed his weapon and heavy gear and jumped into the water, while Sullivan got a rope from his patrol car.

Sigley got to the man and was able to pull him out of the water with the help of the rope and deputies on shore. The man was placed on a backboard and carried up to a waiting ambulance.

Warren said the man awoke in the ambulance and was treated and to the Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office.

Sigley credits his fellow deputies for saving his own life.

“I couldn’t have done it without them,” he said. “It’s a brotherhood and I am honored to be a part of that brotherhood.”

Gloucester County Sheriff Darrell Warren said the rescue was a team effort but Sigley risked his own safety to enter the water and save the man.

“I admire his courage,” he said. “We are very fortunate he is a part of our team.”