Plainfield, Indiana – Thanks to an officer with the Plainfield Police Department, a Plainfield woman is still alive because she was rescued by the officer after her vehicle ended up in a retention pond following a car crash.
According to the incident report, shortly before 7 a.m. the woman lost control over her vehicle after the crash and drove through a fence barrier and into the pond located near the intersection of Stafford and Perry roads.
Officer Robert Sumner was the first responder who arrived at the scene around 7 a.m.
Another driver rushed to the car right after the incident and tried to break the window of the vehicle, but he was unsuccessful and the woman was still in the car when the officer arrived.
The Plainfield Police Department said that officer Sumner informed the dispatcher that he was about to take off his equipment, including his radio, and that he was about to enter the water and break the window.
A bystander gave Sumner a knife to use as a window breaker and he swam to the middle of the retention pond where he broke the back window of the sinking vehicle.
According to Plainfield Police, Sumner used the knife to cut away the deployed air bag and found the woman who was barely above the water line and on the phone with 911.
The officer managed to free the woman in a matter of minutes after his arrival. They both got out of the water unharmed.
The medics team who arrived at the scene, treated officer Sumner for a laceration on his arm from breaking the window. He wasn’t taken to hospital since his injury was minor.
The woman, however, was transferred to hospital for treatment because he developed hypothermia. She is expected to recover very soon.
