INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — A rollover vehicle crash left the woman trapped, upside down in a dirty, water-filled canal, with her head briefly going below the surface. But quick thinking by sheriff’s deputies led the woman to be rescued with non-life threatening injuries, officials said.
“I can’t move,” the woman can be heard saying in a newly released body-camera footage of the July 23 single-vehicle wreck from the Indian River County Sheriff’s Office. Sheriff’s Deputy Quang “Tony” Le used a knife to cut the woman’s seat belt and then positioned her body sideways, allowing the woman to keep her head above water, officials said.
“Just breathe. Keep your head sideways,” Le can be heard telling the woman in the video. The woman suffered a medical condition while driving, causing her vehicle to veer off the roadway and flip into the canal, sheriff’s spokesperson Lt. Joe Abollo said.
“He went into full rescue mode,” Abollo said of Le, who he said has worked at the agency for more than five years. “All the training those deputies do on life-saving tactics, critical thinking and problem solving all came together in that moment.”
Video provided by Indian River County Sheriff’s Office
Le and sheriff’s Deputy Blake Giordano responded to the morning crash in the 6700 block of 57th Street. The woman, who was the only person in the vehicle, was suspended upside down by her seat belt, the video showed.
A witness told deputies there was a person still inside, but also said he couldn’t see anyone because the airbags had deployed. Le used a hammer to break the windows to the vehicle because the doors were locked, officials said.
Deputies were able to open the front-passenger door. Small objects could be seen floating in the water as deputies rushed to free the woman.
“I just cut her out. She was submerged under water,” Le can be heard radioing to emergency services. Indian River County Fire Rescue crews and deputies lifted the woman out of the vehicle and onto a back board.
The woman was flown to HCA Florida Lawnwood Hospital in Fort Pierce, sheriff’s officials said. An update on her condition was not immediately available.
Several people on social media described the deputies and fire rescue crews who responded to the crash as “true heroes” and “angels at work.”
“It’s one of those moments a lot of people in the community don’t see,” Abollo said. “The woman is thankful to the deputies who were there.”