In a brisk response to a late-night emergency, Clinton Township police officers were lauded for their decisiveness after rescuing a man whose SUV was submerged in a local pond on New Year's Eve. As reported by The Detroit News, the vehicle entered the water at the Harbours Apartment Complex near Heydenreich and Hall Roads.
Responding to a call around 1:50 a.m., officers arrived to find a dark-colored SUV afloat in the middle of the water with a man in the driver's seat who would not comply with instructions to exit the sinking vehicle, officials said yesterday. Diving into action, Sgt. Bates, a member of the Clinton Township Police, swam out to the vehicle under the cold embrace of night, driven by duty and the weight of a potential life hanging in balance.
This dramatic rescue was further detailed by WXYZ, which outlined the sequence of events that led to Sgt. Bates pulling the non-responsive driver to safety. The driver was successfully stabilized with a lifejacket and retrieved with the help of a rescue rope, as fellow officers pulled them from the water’s clutches.
The police department took to Facebook stating, "without the heroic actions of Sgt. Bates the driver may have suffered a fatal outcome," capturing the gravity of the rescue in the frigid pond’s waters – which claimed the vehicle moments after the extraction. According to the account by WWJ Newsradio, as the SUV began to tremendously sink, Sgt. Bates reached in and pulled the driver through the water and out of the window, barely averting tragedy.
