ALLENDALE CHARTER TWP (WWJ) - Good Samaritans are being credited for saving the life of an elderly man after he apparently lost consciousness while driving and crashed into a pond in West Michigan.
The incident occurred Friday afternoon, witnesses say, in the 1200 block of 60th Ave. near Warner Street in Allendale Township.
Francis Dadson told WZZM that he was helping a friend move nearby when the group saw the crash and quickly jumped into action as the truck took on water.
Video footage captured by Dadosn showed the tense rescue as the men tried to find a way to reach the driver.
"I can't swim, I don't know if he's OK or not," Dadson can be heard on video. The group decided to take a nearby rowboat and paddle out to the sinking truck.
"I was like, this feels so wrong right now but I don't care," said Dadson, who later explained they took the boat without asking the owner. "We need to do something."
Dadson stayed on shore and got blankets ready as two other men paddled to the truck. The pair broke a window and dragged the driver, a 83-year-old Coopersville man, out of the vehicle before getting him to shore safely.
The man was alert and talking when first responders arrived at the scene, but witnesses said he was unconscious when he was rescued from the truck.
"I was like, are you ok? What happened? He said 'I must have passed out,'" Dadson stated.
According to Dadson, if the men hadn't jumped into the boat, the elderly driver may not have survived.
The 83-year-old man was taken to the hospital where authorities said he is in stable condition.
Deputies with the Ottawa County Sheriff's dive team worked to recover the truck from the pond.
