Nerve-wracking body-camera footage captured the moment police in New Jersey rescued a woman from an overturned vehicle in the Delaware River last month.
Officers with the Gloucester City Police Department (GCPD) responded to the Freedom Pier at 1:11 p.m. on April 28 for a water rescue, the GCPD said in a press release. A woman had driven her SUV through a guardrail at the pier, crashing into the river below, WTFX reported. Upon arrival, officers found the vehicle was upside down on the south side of the dock.
“Put a rush on everybody. The whole top of the vehicle is submerged,” an officer radios after arriving on the scene, according to the body-cam footage.
Det. Sgt. Carlos Depoder and Officers Sean Gartland and John Bryszewski Jr. entered the water, according to the GCPD. Video from the scene shows officers helping Gartland reach a log adjacent to the flipped vehicle.
“By the time I get in, I start opening doors and start checking, trying to find her,” Gartland told WPVI.
He makes his way to the vehicle and successfully opens one of its doors as Depoder and Bryszewski enter the water and head to the other end of the SUV, the video shows.
“When I get in, I go to the front passenger door. I check there first. Then I check the back door. She was located up in the dash area,” Depoder told WPVI.
They extracted the woman from the vehicle before placing her on a log where they administered CPR, WPVI noted.
Depoder conducted chest compressions while Bryszewski Jr. and Gartland held the victim on the log.
As the drop-off from the pier to the river was a significant distance, the officers needed to find another way to land. Luckily Gene Blemings and his two coworkers came to the rescue, WPVI noted. They had been doing some work aboard a barge when they witnessed the crash and quickly hopped in their boat and arrived at the crash site, notifying officers of their willingness to help in any way they could, according to the outlet. The victim was loaded on their boat, and the good Samaritans brought her and the officers to a floating dock on the pier’s northside, the release said.
She was conveyed to an area hospital with serious injuries, WTFX reported. She remains in critical condition but has made slow progress, according to WPVI.
“I’m just happy that she’s alive,” Blemings told the outlet. “Hopefully everything turns out good for her, that’s all that matters to me.”