For 10 agonizing minutes, Fitzgerald sat frozen and trapped inside her car while it bobbed and was thrown amid the abnormally strong waves.<\/div>\n

\u201cGroton City, multiple 911s for a car into the water,\u201d noted the police dispatch.<\/div>\n

Beyond the Call of Duty<\/div>\n

Do you know an officer who has gone above and beyond what the job requires? E-mail us at BeyondtheCallofDuty@cnn.com.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The first person to spring into action was 34-year-old John Sidlinger of nearby Mystic, Connecticut. He was in the parking lot having lunch with his girlfriend when they saw Fitzgerald\u2019s car lurch into the water.<\/div>\n

\u201cBefore I even said anything she was on the phone calling 911,\u201d Sidlinger recalled. \u201cI just went out and ended up grabbing a rail and breaking the front windshield out.\u201d<\/div>\n

But it wasn\u2019t enough to get Fitzgerald to safety. Several members of the city\u2019s police and fire departments took over in a more forceful attempt to free Fitzgerald before her car filled with water.<\/div>\n

\u201cOh God, do something. Quickly!\u201d The frantic cries can be heard on the cell phone video that captured the entire rescue on March 31. \u201cHurry up, hurry up!\u201d<\/div>\n

Jenkins knew he had to break out a side window so he could open the door and get Fitzgerald out.<\/div>\n

\u201cBreak the window! Break the window!\u201d shouted the bystanders on that cell phone video. By now, about 20 people had gathered on the shore to watch the rescue.<\/div>\n

Jenkins broke out the back side window first, but since Fitzgerald was paralyzed with fear, it didn\u2019t help. And time was running out.<\/div>\n

\u201cI noticed that the water was all the way to the top of the window,\u201d Jenkins said. \u201cAnd I started getting nervous thinking she was under water. How long can she last under water? We gotta hurry up and do this.\u201d<\/div>\n

Fitzgerald\u2019s head was tilted back and she was gasping for air while the water moved up past her neck.<\/div>\n

While trying to keep his feet steady on the sandy floor, Jenkins then broke through the front side window, unlocked the passenger-side door, and pulled Fitzgerald toward him. \u201cI don\u2019t think I said anything. I just grabbed her and pulled her out.\u201d<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/body>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Watch the report HERE\u203a\u203a (CNN) \u2013 It was a daring water rescue unlike […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":13951,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13950","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/georgiaarsoncontrol.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13950","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/georgiaarsoncontrol.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/georgiaarsoncontrol.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/georgiaarsoncontrol.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/georgiaarsoncontrol.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13950"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/georgiaarsoncontrol.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13950\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13952,"href":"https:\/\/georgiaarsoncontrol.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13950\/revisions\/13952"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/georgiaarsoncontrol.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13951"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/georgiaarsoncontrol.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13950"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/georgiaarsoncontrol.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13950"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/georgiaarsoncontrol.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13950"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}