LAFAYETTE -
Three people had to be rescued from a sinking SUV after the driver suffered a possible medical emergency that caused him to drive into a retention pond.
In deep cold water, a heroic happy ending that could easily have gone the other way.
"I just didn't want to see somebody getting hurt," says rescuer Patrick Gladden of Lafayette.
Gladden was in Steak 'n Shake when he heard a woman say "somebody just drove into the pond!"
Racing time and tragedy, Gladden dove into the pond with another man. They swam for the fast-sinking SUV going down in the middle of the pond just off the Lafayette Meijer parking lot Monday afternoon.
"He's yelling and stuff. He's kind of screaming," Gladden said of the driver, 30-year-old Travis McCurry.
Gladden and the other swimmer tried to calm McCurry.
"And I was just saying, 'Oh man, you're gonna be good. We're not going to let you drown'," Gladden said.
People along the bank are coming to watch what's happening but out on the water time is running out.
"It's just filling up with water quick," said Gladden. He said he and the other swimmer "are just reaching in there grabbing, trying to grab the door handles and everything, but the doors weren't opening."
Water pressure was likely pushing in on the doors, so they tried pulling on windows. But it was hard to get any leverage in the water.
"It was crazy hard to get it," Gladden said.
Photos from the Journal & Courier newspaper in Lafayette show the SUV almost totally submerged. But Gladden was going to fight. Someone brought a tire iron and he was able to "slam the window."
It broke.
"The kid on the top was pulling him out. He just pulled the guy out and I knew we were good," Gladden said.
Firefighters had the three wait on the roof for rescue. Gladden's dad says he's always ready to jump in.
"This is by far the biggest event that's required his attention. I'm proud of him," John Gladden said.
And a risky rescue, too, in that cold, deep and very dark water.
Later, an aunt of the victim came to the scene.
"Thank God someone came to his aid," said Cheryl Price.
Price then hugged her nephew's rescuer and thanked him repeatedly. She said her nephew suffered a brain injury in an ATV accident and sometimes has trouble, including seizures.
It's unclear what prompted him to drive into the pond Monday.
Gladden says the victim thanked him then realized something was wrong.
"Man, I forgot my glasses," he said.
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