In a remarkable act of heroism, a group of Florida Tech students saved two people from a truck that had been pulled underwater during the historic flooding event earlier this month in Brevard County.
The driver of the truck, Chris Heffter, posted a recount of the rescue on Facebook and thanked the students who helped extricate him and his coworker from the rapidly sinking truck. The pair were driving through the neighborhood behind Brownlie Hall when Heffter’s truck was swept away and pulled by the current toward Country Club Road – and soon after pulled underwater.
“Once we ran head-on into the culvert the force of the water sucked the front of the truck down and the cab started to rapidly fill with water,” Heffter said in his post. “When I say rapidly, the water was over my head within 3 minutes.”
Alex Straley, a resident assistant in the Residence Quad, was walking with fellow student Preston Whipple, checking the dormitories for flooding, when Whipple saw a group of people by the sinking truck. They both ran over to help and found students Tommy Anderson, Elaina Lammers, Gabby Dimiceli and one who has not yet been identified, attempting to break the windows of the truck.
Heffter successfully broke the window to the truck with a window breaker he had inside, and the unknown student was able to pull both people out. The paramedics arrived on the scene as the student was pulling Heffter’s passenger out.
Straley offered for everyone to move inside to the common area of Brownlie Hall and Heffter, who suffered no injuries, was able to walk in with the students as the paramedics carried his passenger.
“Just about every resident offered up their dry towels when I sent people down the halls asking for them. I have never seen so many towels in one place so quickly,” Straley said.
“I am incredibly proud of (the rescuing students for) their speed and bravery.”
Heffter’s passenger was taken by the paramedics to the hospital to be treated and is expected to make a full recovery.
Straley stayed with Heffter, who did not require medical assistance, for the next few hours as they waited for the flooding to go down enough for him to be picked up. He made Heffter coffee and offered his phone to make calls.
“I also want to send out a BIG THANK YOU to the heroes of the day, the students of Brownlie Hall who not only saved us from drowning but brought us warm towels and gave us shelter from the rain as the firefighters rendered aid to my friend,” Heffter said in his post.
Straley described his feelings at the time of the rescue as “calm, in an anxious sort of way. The kind of calm when you know what you need to do but you’ve never done it before.”
He said it was scary to witness such a traumatic moment, but that didn’t stop him or the other students from stepping up to help when they saw someone in need.
“I would say to always help someone in whatever way you can, even if it’s just pouring them a cup of coffee and letting them sit quietly,” Straley said. “You never know what someone might need at the time.”
