A 21-year-old woman who crashed near Mesquite says she feared she would not survive after her SUV flipped and landed in a muddy ditch, until a group of strangers pulled her free through the back windshield. Kayla Pesina's rescue, captured on video that spread widely online, happened on a rainy Saturday, and she is now speaking publicly about the terrifying minutes she spent trapped upside down.
The WFAA report covered a woman rescued from an overturned SUV near Mesquite. Good samaritans reached the SUV and pulled her out through the back windshield, as footage circulating on social media showed the rescue unfold. In an interview, Pesina described her terror while trapped inside the vehicle and called the strangers who freed her her angels.
A Driver's Fear in the Floodwater
Per the station's report, Pesina said she genuinely believed she would not make it out alive as her vehicle sat overturned in the rain-soaked ditch. The rescue happened during Saturday's rain along the LBJ Freeway corridor, conditions that turned an otherwise routine commute into a life-threatening situation. Pesina has called the bystanders who pulled her to safety her angels, a label that reflects just how close she believes the encounter came to tragedy.
The strangers who stopped to help were acting under Texas's Good Samaritan protections, which shield people who render emergency aid in good faith from civil liability. Under Section 74.151 of the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code, individuals who offer emergency care without expecting payment cannot be sued for damages unless their actions are willfully or wantonly negligent. The law exists specifically to encourage bystanders to step in before paramedics or firefighters can arrive on scene.
How Fast Water Turns Deadly on the Highway
Hydroplaning doesn't require a flood to become dangerous. According to safety guidance reported by NewsWest9, a vehicle can begin hydroplaning in as little as 0.08 inches of standing water at speeds around 55 mph, and worn tires are more likely to lose traction on wet pavement. Those conditions help explain how a sudden downpour on a busy freeway can send a driver into a rollover with almost no warning.
Texas law requires drivers to adjust for conditions like rain regardless of the posted speed limit. Texas Transportation Code Section 545.351 mandates that motorists travel at a speed that is reasonable and prudent given road conditions, according to Universal Law Group.
A Dangerous Stretch of Highway
The crash adds to a troubling pattern on I-635 through the Dallas-Fort Worth area. I-635 tied with I-45 for the most fatal crashes in the metroplex in 2025, with 13 apiece, according to Texas Department of Transportation CRIS data compiled by Angel Reyes & Associates. The highway was originally built in 1969 to carry 180,000 vehicles a day, but average daily traffic has since swelled to roughly 230,000 vehicles, placing it among the top 30 most congested corridors statewide.
Zoomed in locally, the city of Mesquite recorded 3,581 total traffic collisions in 2024, including 11 fatal crashes and 62 serious-injury crashes, per TxDOT figures cited by Angel Reyes & Associates.
It's unclear whether drainage conditions or ongoing construction along the I-635 corridor played any role in standing water at the site of Pesina's crash, a question that remains open. For now, Pesina's focus is on the strangers who didn't hesitate when they saw her overturned vehicle in the ditch — the kind of split-second decision that, under Texas law, carries legal protection precisely because officials want more people to make it.
