EL PASO -- A group of 8 strangers jumped into waist-deep water, and working together, managed to flip an elderly man's pickup truck out of a canal yesterday afternoon.
Anthony Paez didn't think twice when he saw the pickup truck swerve off the road and flip into the canal along North Loop in Socorro.
"Just to see someone loosing their life in front of you, it's pretty intense. But you don't think about that at the time,” said Paez, remembering the traumatic experience.
Police say 82-year-old Lewis Elmo Gosey likely fell asleep at the wheel, veered off the road, drove up an embankment, and flipped into the canal. He was pinned inside and underwater. Seeing this, Paez said he pulled over and jumped into action.
"I ran from over there as I realized someone was still in there. I jumped into the water."
Another driver who witnessed the crash, Rachel Gamboa, wasn't far behind him. She also pulled over after seeing the crash and her adrenaline kicked in.
"You just do what you can and I noticed a lot of people stopping at the scene and they wouldn't jump in the water. I don't know how I jumped in the water, I just did," she said.
With time ticking and water up to their waists, Paez, Gamboa and about 6 other strangers worked together and amazingly flipped the truck back over.
" When we turned it over we saw the driver in there and he was unconscious," said Gamboa. But she says he was trapped inside and they couldn't get him out. Minutes later emergency crews showed up and pulled the truck from the water and used the jaws of life to free him. Gosey was rushed to the hospital where he died. Gamboa and Paiz know they did everything they could to try and save his life.
"At least we gave him a chance you know. We got him to the hospital.”
Post new Comment