Military training kicked in as veteran saves woman from submerged vehicle
By Tom McLaughlin
Northwest Florida Daily News, Fort Walton Beach
Published: January 6, 2015
(TNS) — Florosa, Fla., resident Jim Rogers risked cold water and his own welfare Saturday night to rescue a troubled young woman who drove directly into Santa Rosa Sound.
Rogers was standing in his kitchen when he saw the woman speed down his driveway in the Fallin’ Waters subdivision, race across his back yard and drive into the water.
He ran out and leapt into the Sound, wrestled the vehicle into shallow water and pulled the by-then frantic driver from the car and to safety.
“I wasn’t sure what I would find,” Rogers said, recalling his 11 p.m. plunge into the dark salt water. “I was over my head a little bit with the current, the waves and stuff. It was cold.”
Rogers, a retired military man, said he was able to get in front of the slowly sinking car and muscle it into shallower water. Then he pulled the woman through the back door of her car.
“He told me he really relied on the training he’d gotten in the military,” said Rogers’ wife, Joanne.
Volunteers from the Florosa Fire Department and Okaloosa County deputies quickly converged on the scene, Rogers said. He had bundled the woman in a blanket by the time they arrived.
Firefighters told investigating deputy Robby Naylor the woman said she’d deliberately driven into the water, a report said.
A relative said the woman had a history of depression, was in a rocky marriage, had recently given birth and was struggling to keep her job, the report said.
“(The victim) stated she did not have any formula for the baby and did not have any money to buy any,” the report said. “(The victim) stated she had just had enough and could not handle it any more.”
The woman was taken to Fort Walton Beach Medical Center for medical treatment and later placed into custody under the Baker Act, the report said.
The Rogers family said they wish only the best for the woman who drove through their yard. Jim Rogers said he was just glad he was there to see the car flash by his kitchen window.
“She was panicked,” he said. “I was just trying to make her safe and get her out. I don’t know what would have happened if I hadn’t been here or facing that window.”
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http://www.stripes.com/news/us/military-training-kicked-in-as-veteran-saves-woman-from-submerged-vehicle-1.322535
