Woman Who Can’t Swim Rescued Man, 88, From Lake
Published: May 7, 2007
A woman who did not know how to swim rescued a man, 88, after his vehicle began sinking into a deep lake at the Desert Island Country Club, it was reported Sunday.
According to the Desert Sun, Cristina Chavez said she didn’t even think about it. “I saw him struggling,” said the 21-year-old Thousand Palms resident and mother. “It was just instinct that I needed to get him out. It happened. I just knew I had to help him.”
As her two children waited with her mother on land, Chavez ran to the sinking car, the Desert Sun reported.
Chavez tried to use the submerging car to stay afloat, but realized that her weight was helping to push the vehicle under and began kicking her legs, the paper reported.
Water began rushing into the car, and the man, 88, who asked not to be identified, tried unsuccessfully to open the door. He finally got the window down, according to the Desert Sun.
As she struggled to pull him out, Chavez screamed help. Kathy Dumas, the club’s security director, swam out to help. “It was like tunnel vision: getting there and getting them out,” Dumas told the Desert Sun.
Witnesses said the man had been reversing the car out of the parking lot when he apparently hit the accelerator instead of the brake, the paper reported.
The car shot backwards into the center of the lake, where it was pulled out Friday, officials told the Desert Sun.
Both Chavez and the man were treated and released; no police report was available on Friday, according to the paper.
Resident Joel Hochberg, who took pictures at the scene, called Chavez’s actions “very inspiring.”
“The world needs more heroes, especially the woman who doesn’t like the water and doesn’t swim,” Hochberg told the Desert Sun.
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