CENTENNIAL — A witness who flagged down and directed police to the scene of a one-car accident has been deemed a Good Samaritan and credited with saving the women’s lives.
His actions enabled Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Officers to find the vehicle and extricate two women, ages 24 and 22, by wading through chest-deep water, while breaking ice to reach the vehicle in 22-degree weather.
“That witness was in the right place at the right time,” said Deputy Sheriff Derek Helveston. “It was late at night, there was barely anyone on the road, and the chances of these two women surviving were slim, especially being upside down submerged in frigid waters with no way to escape.”
According to a release, at 1 a.m. Feb. 22, sheriff’s dispatchers received a 911 call in which the caller repeatedly said “please” but would not respond to questions.
The emergency Rapid SOS system indicated a crash, and the caller was somewhere on South Lima Street between East Easter Avenue and East Arapahoe Road.
The witness said he saw a black SUV pass him at a high rate of speed and fly off the road into a ditch. Deputies searched the creek bed, but it was challenging to find the vehicle due to deep snow, rocks and heavy vegetation.
They finally spotted tire tracks, followed a debris trail, and eventually located the vehicle upside down, submerged in the creek.
When they finally reached the SUV, they could hear someone inside screaming and crying and responding to their calls. They forced open a rear door and pulled one female out, helping rescue crews get her up the steep embankment.
The second female in the car was extricated with the Jaws of Life by South Metro Fire Rescue.
“If it weren’t for the witness seeing the car go off the road and staying there to direct us to the crash, we never would have found it that night,” said Patrol Lt. Mike Reed. “When I first saw the vehicle, I thought there was no chance of anyone being alive with the amount of damage it had. The women were submerged in freezing water for 15 to 20 minutes with just inches of breathing room. Had we not found them at that moment, they would have succumbed to hypothermia within minutes, and this would have been a completely different outcome.”
The women were transported to the hospital and miraculously suffered only minor injuries, according to the release. Both were highly intoxicated. The driver was charged with DUI.
To see all the photos and the body cam footage click the clink Car Crash Rescue.
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