The entire episode was recorded by the deputy’s body camera.
PENSACOLA, Fla. — A Florida sheriff’s deputy and a motorist are lucky to be alive after they were sucked into a flooded storm drain during a torrential downpour, then dragged under water for around 30 seconds before emerging — soaked but unharmed — on the other side of a highway.
Deputy William Hollingsworth was helping stranded drivers amid the rapidly rising water early Friday when he saw the motorist disappear beneath the surface. Hollingsworth “rushed to his aid without regard to his own safety,” Escambia County Sheriff Chip Simmons told reporters.The episode was recorded by the deputy’s body camera — although the underwater portion of the video is completely dark, filled only with the muffled sounds of rushing water.
After emerging on the other side, Hollingsworth calls out to the driver while wading toward him, shouting “Buddy I got you! Oh Jesus!” Red and blue lights from his police cruiser reflect off the pitch-black water.The two hold onto each other as they head back across the road, still in disbelief. “I’ve never held my breath like that in my life,” the deputy says. “Me neither,” the motorist agrees.“Thank you man, for like, being there when I came out,” the driver tells Hollingsworth. “When I came out, you were right behind me.”Later, sitting in a law enforcement vehicle, the driver gives the deputy a firm handshake.
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