Officers recount water rescue in Crab Orchard Lake

CARTERVILLE (WSIL) �� Over the weekend, several police officers jumped into Crab Orchard Lake to rescue a driver who accidentally drove into the water. Those officers insist they aren’t heroes– they just did what anyone in their position would do.

Around 3 a.m. Saturday, Officer Sam Tyner was headed home from work. He saw a driver run a stop sign, cross four lanes of Route 13 and plunge into Crab Orchard Lake.

"I wasn’t for sure what I had seen at first. It was almost like something you’d see in the movies. It was pretty crazy," said Tyner.

Officer Tyner immediately radioed for help, pulled over, took his vest and gun belt off and jumped into the water.

"All you could see was the tail lights and the side of the car. I could see the guy beating on the glass trying to get out," said Tyner.

Tyner started swimming towards the elderly man still inside the sinking SUV but had to turn around when his boots filled with water. About that time, Officer Sean Dobbins arrived on scene.

"When I heard him say he was going into the water, it wasn’t really a question whether I was going to go in or not. I knew I was going to go in because I wasn’t going to let him do it by himself," said Dobbins.

Both officers swam the 40 yards to the vehicle to find the driver had been able to open the door. They grabbed his arms and started heading back to shore where Sgt. Aaron Glenn was waiting in waist deep water to help all three back on land.

Despite saving a man’s life this weekend, Officer Tyner and Officer Dobbins are very modest and don’t claim to be heroes.

"If you’re a first responder and something like that happens, you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do to try and help somebody," said Tyner.

"Our job is to serve and protect the public, and that’s what we did," said Dobbins.

Tyner said he believes it was divine intervention that put him in the right place at the right time.

"I never go Route 13 home. I always go the back way and we had gotten a call a little earlier that was on the south of Route 13. So that’s the only reason I was on 13 and there was no other cars out," said Tyner.

The driver’s family called News 3 to say he was trying to drive himself to the hospital when he crashed into the water. He was taken into emergency surgery for his medical problem and is doing just fine.