"Every one of those people had a hand in saving our lives"
Story Published: Jan 26, 2007 at 12:06 AM PST
Monday night Tony Roman was driving near the South Hill of Puyallup with his two dogs: Jazzy a Schitzu and Alex a one-year-old Yellow Lab.
Jazzy jumped off the seat and under Tony's feet. When he reached down to get the dog Tony veered off a curve in the road, the car hit an embankment, and landed upside down in a flooded pond. The nose of the car was under four feet of water. Tony and Jazzy scrambled to a small air pocket near the rear window.
"I remember the impact, then the cold water. Then I remember that just the thought of that this might be it for me," Tony told us three nights after the accident. "I kind of told myself 'OK this is what it's like to die.' "
Another driver saw the crash and scrambled through the water to the only door still slightly above water. He heard muffled cries for help from inside the car from a man screaming about trying to save his dogs.
By the time rescuers from Central Pierce Fire and Rescue arrived, Tony believes he and Jazzy had been shivering in the cold murky water and breathing only from that small air pocket for about 15 minutes.
"And then a light," he said of the flashlights aimed at him by the firefighters. "And somebody said come towards me so I went towards the light." The firefighters got Tony and Jazzy out of the car. But then they saw a floating baby blanket and feared there might also be a child inside.
Rescue divers from the Pierce County Sheriff's Department suited up in scuba gear and searched the murky water by feel. Deputy Brent Van Dyke thought he'd found that child when he felt a body under the front seat.
"We thought he was dead because when we found him at first he didn't move," he said. Only when he realized the "body" was wearing a collar did he fully realize he was rescuing a dog: Alex the golden lab. "Then pulled it out and started to bounce around. I was just happy I didn't get bit," he said. "Most dogs bite you when you pull them out of the water."
Alex had been trapped in the car for at least 30 minutes.
"We were all quite surprised, pleasantly," said Let. Adam Rosenlund from Central Pierce Fire and Rescue.
Thursday night, Tony Roman met Van Dyke and Rosenlund for the first time since the accident to thank them and their fellow rescuers for saving his life - and two more.
"We're just glad that we could be there," Van Dyke told him.
"I'm glad that you could be there too," answered Roman.
"We don't know how lucky we are as a society to have that kind of team out there for us at our beck and call," he said of the team of firefighters, paramedics, and deputies who save him and his two dogs," Roman said. "I know I took it for granted. And that won't happen anymore."
"Every one of those people had a hand in saving our lives. They truly did!"
Story Published: Jan 26, 2007 at 12:06 AM PST
Monday night Tony Roman was driving near the South Hill of Puyallup with his two dogs: Jazzy a Schitzu and Alex a one-year-old Yellow Lab.
Jazzy jumped off the seat and under Tony's feet. When he reached down to get the dog Tony veered off a curve in the road, the car hit an embankment, and landed upside down in a flooded pond. The nose of the car was under four feet of water. Tony and Jazzy scrambled to a small air pocket near the rear window.
"I remember the impact, then the cold water. Then I remember that just the thought of that this might be it for me," Tony told us three nights after the accident. "I kind of told myself 'OK this is what it's like to die.' "
Another driver saw the crash and scrambled through the water to the only door still slightly above water. He heard muffled cries for help from inside the car from a man screaming about trying to save his dogs.
By the time rescuers from Central Pierce Fire and Rescue arrived, Tony believes he and Jazzy had been shivering in the cold murky water and breathing only from that small air pocket for about 15 minutes.
"And then a light," he said of the flashlights aimed at him by the firefighters. "And somebody said come towards me so I went towards the light." The firefighters got Tony and Jazzy out of the car. But then they saw a floating baby blanket and feared there might also be a child inside.
Rescue divers from the Pierce County Sheriff's Department suited up in scuba gear and searched the murky water by feel. Deputy Brent Van Dyke thought he'd found that child when he felt a body under the front seat.
"We thought he was dead because when we found him at first he didn't move," he said. Only when he realized the "body" was wearing a collar did he fully realize he was rescuing a dog: Alex the golden lab. "Then pulled it out and started to bounce around. I was just happy I didn't get bit," he said. "Most dogs bite you when you pull them out of the water."
Alex had been trapped in the car for at least 30 minutes.
"We were all quite surprised, pleasantly," said Let. Adam Rosenlund from Central Pierce Fire and Rescue.
Thursday night, Tony Roman met Van Dyke and Rosenlund for the first time since the accident to thank them and their fellow rescuers for saving his life - and two more.
"We're just glad that we could be there," Van Dyke told him.
"I'm glad that you could be there too," answered Roman.
"We don't know how lucky we are as a society to have that kind of team out there for us at our beck and call," he said of the team of firefighters, paramedics, and deputies who save him and his two dogs," Roman said. "I know I took it for granted. And that won't happen anymore."
"Every one of those people had a hand in saving our lives. They truly did!"
