and then a bit later, when the car is towed out, a mysterious finding. all four of the car windows are up. how the driver s side window opened just enough to let her out and then closed again? no one knows. well, somebody was watching over her, i really think. the water probably shorted out the system of the windows. no matter how the windows managed to open, rocky and howard are both glad they were driving by just at that moment. the fact is, here was somebody that was in distress that couldn t help themselves. and we just reacted. a lot of people have said it was a heroic thing to do. i don t want to say that, i don t want to use that word. i thought, i m a swimmer and i m trained in life support, so in a way, i thought who better to do this than me? when all is said and done, rocky s thoughts turn back to what brought him to this spot in the first place. as i came out of the water, i was cold, shaky, and i remember
halfway out and the water is getting deeper. the vehicle really starts to sink quicker. and at that point there, we start swimming. the water is at least 10 feet deep in spots and by the time rocky and howard reach the car, it s almost completely submerged. i just remember looking at this woman screaming on the other side of the window, thinking, that s got to be the worst thing you can ever go through. i nearly drowned when i was a kid. and so i thought, no, you know, whatever we have to do, we re going to do because there s no way that s going to happen. rocky sees the woman trapped in the sinking car is wracked with fear and knows he needs to act fast. i got on the left rear bumper and started pounding on the window on that side. i was giving it all i had, and i just could not get it to break. by now, a few other rescuers
have made their way out to the car. as rocky continues to beat the window, howard makes his way to the front of the car. i m kind of leaning on the hood and the windshield, the water had completely submerged the car at that point there. we couldn t see. the water was murky. instinctively, howard shoves his right arm to where he thinks the driver window should be and much to his surprise, the window is down. she grabbed my arm and at that point there i thought, well, we can get her out now. and i reached down, too, i got the right leg because she had somehow freed herself from the car and as we pulled, she popped out. it was like a cork out of a champagne bottle, just bang. rocky and howard are spent and overjoyed that the victim is out, but they re still treading in the frigid water, and nobody is out of danger yet. in fact, it s about to get even more dangerous. as it turns out, the victim doesn t know how to swim. never approach a drowning
going to be a little bit later. as rocky prepares to turn away from the flood, another car catches his eye. as i stop, this car comes in front of me, and she goes into the water. and it wasn t a small amount of water. another driver, howard absets, also sees the car trying to plow through the flooded road. for a split second i think, this cannot be happening. it s unreal. the woman in the car loses control, and the suv starts to drift. both rocky and howard know if they don t act, there s no one else around, and she could be in real trouble. luckily, rocky is a doctor trained in trauma life support, so he doesn t hesitate to help. the front starts to go under pretty rapidly. i decided i m going to go out there. the water was freezing cold. it was unbearable, actually. rocky and i were actually holding hands because we don t know what the water is like. and about that time we get about
at ny.gov/business a woman is trapped in her car, and it s sinking fast. i could see the lady inside, and she was terrified because she was gonna die. moments earlier, rocky kosla was on his way to dinner with his family, late for their 7:00 reservation and slowed even more