Surveillance video captured the dramatic rescue of a Lengthy Island lady after she unintentionally drove her automotive into Patchogue Bay. Anthony Zhongor, 17, dove into the bay's chilly waters shortly after 10 p.m. Tuesday to drag Mia Samolinski from her SUV.
The 18-year-old Patchogue resident had unintentionally pressed the fuel pedal as an alternative of the brakes inside her Subaru Outback, the Suffolk County Police Division stated in a information launch.
"I simply hear an enormous splash and everybody operating towards the dock," Zhongor advised CBS New York. The teenager, a Patchogue resident who expects to graduate from highschool subsequent week earlier than becoming a member of the U.S. Marine Corps, stated he and a bunch of onlookers might hear the younger lady struggling to exit the automotive because it started to sink.
"That is what actually made me soar within the water, as a result of she was banging on door making an attempt to interrupt it, form of bought scared. So I simply jumped in," Zhongor stated. "Dying whereas suffocating is one in every of my worst fears, so I could not think about anybody going by means of that proper in entrance of me. I really feel like anybody would make that call."
Zhongor entered the SUV by means of one in every of its again doorways earlier than pulling Samolinski from the automobile, CBS New York reported. Her father, Charlie Samolinski, praised Zhongor for saving his daughter's life.
"The actual hero of the day is Anthony, undoubtedly. There have been a bunch of individuals on the dock. They have been filming it. He did one thing about it," he stated.
"She's right here at the moment due to him," Samolinski stated. "A automotive will be changed. Issues will be changed. My daughter? Irreplaceable."