Deputy and Amazon driver stop to check car in Florida canal and find 3 trapped inside

A Florida sheriff’s deputy and an Amazon driver are being credited with saving three lives after they stopped and investigated a car found upside down in a canal, according to the Indian River County Sheriff’s Office.

It happened just before 3 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 8, and all three victims survived the ordeal, the sheriff’s office said in a news release. The county is on Florida’s east coast, about 90 miles southeast of Orlando.

“While Deputy Dan Whittington was on his way to an unrelated call, he happen to look over and see a partially submerged vehicle upside down in a canal,” the sheriff’s office said.

“Whittington immediately took action and (waded) into the canal to rescue the occupants inside the vehicle,” the sheriff’s office continued. “Also on scene was an unidentified Amazon driver that went into the canal to assist.”

Two of the women pulled from the vehicle were taken to hospitals with minor injuries, officials said.

Body camera video recorded by Deputy Patrick Newman shows the upside-down car’s windows were underwater as Whittington and the Amazon driver worked on opposite sides to get people out.

One woman is heard crying and thanking her rescuers as she is pulled from the flooded back seat. She then clings to their arms, trying to steady herself while standing in the murky water.

An exact location was not released, but video shows the canal was down an embankment surrounded by heavy growth.

The video had been viewed nearly 10,000 times as of Oct. 24, with people praising the Amazon driver for stopping to help strangers.

“I have met this Amazon driver. Delivers to us occasionally. Always has a smile on his face and is courteous and friendly. You are a good Samaritan and a true hero,” one man wrote on the sheriff’s office Facebook page.

This story was originally published October 24, 2022 at 6:46 AM with the headline "Deputy and Amazon driver stop to check car in Florida canal and find 3 trapped inside."