Not all heroes wear capes: some risk their lives to save a woman after she suffered an epileptic seizure while driving and crashed into a canal.
Shawn Turner and his son were driving near Palm Beach in Florida when they spotted a white SUV slowly sinking into a Boca Raton canal on Sunday, February 23.
Without thinking, Shawn jumped into the canal to try and save the driver, while his son caught the entire ordeal on camera.
Shawn Turner/FacebookThe video, which was originally posted to Shawn’s Facebook, shows the dad reaching into the vehicle before shouting: ‘She’s out cold!’
Soon afterwards, other Good Samaritans jump into the water to help, while Shawn climbs into the sinking car through the passenger side window.
In the background of the video someone can be heard shouting, ‘Dad, get out!’
Speaking to WPTV, Shawn recalled:
As I was bringing my kids home, my son Timmy looked over and said, ‘Dad, there’s a car floating in the canal’.
Shawn said he drove over a curb, jumped out of his car and jumped into the water without even thinking twice.
Shawn Turner/FacebookHe added:
I didn’t have time to hesitate. I had time to take off my pants and go in.
Shawn and the other two people in the water used a knife from a bystander to cut the seatbelt in a desperate bid to free the woman before it was too late.
Shawn continued:
It was a mission to get her out the driver’s side window and out the car. I know cars don’t float long so we needed to get her out of the car quick.
The woman in the car was later identified as Molly Pedrone, who has suffered from seizures for 13 years – however this one came completely out of the blue.
WPTVShe is now said to be recovering in hospital, but is expected to be fine.
Molly gave thanks for Shawn’s quick thinking, telling the news station:
I’m so thankful for Shawn’s help and the help of the other bystanders. I can’t fathom what it would’ve been like without them.
It’s not even worth thinking about what could’ve happened if Shawn and his son hadn’t spotted the SUV sinking into the canal, but I think we can all agree that he and the rest of the Good Samaritans are true heroes.
Here’s to wishing Molly a speedy recovery.
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Emma Rosemurgey is an NCTJ trained Journalist who started her career by producing The Royal Rosemurgey newspaper in 2004, which kept her family up to date with the goings on of her sleepy north east village. She graduated from the University of Central Lancashire in Preston and started her career in regional newspapers before joining Tyla (formerly Pretty 52) in 2017, and progressing onto UNILAD in 2019.