(WRBL) – COLUMBUS, Ga. — Imagine your car crashing into a creek and you are submerged in water upside down. That’s what happened to one man just days ago.
Thankfully, local good Samaritans made sure he wasn’t there for long.
News 3 has new details about the harrowing moments from a Muscogee County Sheriff’s Deputy, one of the few who made the daring dive.
Columbus police say 67-year-old Ralph Valdespino was found around 6 p.m., Tuesday night.
His SUV was upside down in a creek near the Whitesville Road and Maplewood Drive intersection in Columbus.
Corporal David Lang with Muscogee County Sheriffs Office just so happened to be in the area.
He says he and several other people on the scene rushed to the vehicle.
“There was a male standing next to it. I asked him if everyone was out and if everyone was okay. He told me no, that there was a person inside the car but they weren’t moving,” says Deputy Lang.
Next, he says he managed to get a hammer from a woman who was nearby.
He says he used it to break a window and get the man out of the SUV.
He says the victim had been trapped inside for about two minutes.
News 3 spoke to Corporal Lang about what was going through his mind when he saw the vehicle submerged, upside down.
“My oath says that I have a duty to react…and that’s what I did,” says Deputy Lang.
Watch the report HERE››
