Two Florida teenagers, Tony Cooper and Elijah Hodge, are being celebrated as heroes after rescuing a man whose truck crashed into a canal in North Lauderdale. The incident occurred around 9 p.m. on Wednesday, as the boys witnessed the accident from a nearby restaurant.
Without hesitation, they ran to the scene and jumped into the water to save the driver, as reported by the New York Post.
“We rushed and took off our shoes and stuff,” Cooper told the outlet while standing beside his friend, Hodge. “We literally jumped on the hood and then we took off the seat belt and then we pulled him out.”
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The driver was reported to have passed out. “I started screaming at him because he was heavy while he was in the car,” Cooper continued. “We screamed, he woke up, we helped him get out of the car, and after that, he was on the hood and then we pulled him onto the grass.”
The driver of the truck was taken to the hospital by local responders and was conscious at the time. Divers were later seen in the canal working to remove the truck. The driver later told responders “a juvenile reached for his hand and assisted him to the embankment.”
Witness Dorothy Borgelin reported hearing a loud crash before seeing the two teens rush to help.
“There were two kids, they were on the other side, and then they just jumped into the water,” she told WSVN. “They did an amazing job to save the man’s life.”
City leaders plan to honor the teens at an upcoming city commission meeting. The cause of the crash is still under investigation.
