CLINTON TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WXYZ) — On New Years Eve just before 2 a.m., Clinton Township police officers rushed to The Harbours apartment complex. The emergency? A man drove into a retention pond.
As the police body camera video illustrates, officers yelled for the driver to climb out. However, he wouldn't.
Sgt. Ryan Bates said there was no time to spare. So, he took off his gear and swam to the vehicle in an area estimated to be 10 to 12 feet deep.
You can watch the body camera video below:
"By the time I got to the car, that window was almost completely underwater," Bates said. "So, before the window went completely under, I reached in, got a hold of him, tried to pull him out and initially, he kind of resisted because he was trying to stay where he was safe in the air pocket."
"I ended up having to pull him under water and out through the window."
Bates said he took with him two tools that the department placed in all patrol vehicles because of another incident about two years ago — a life vest and a rope.
"Without that, I don't know that I'd had the confidence to go in and I don't know if I'd had been able to make it back," Bates explained.
He said he placed the vest around the driver and yelled for his platoon to go ahead and pull the rope to pull him and the driver back to safety.
"It was definitely a team effort. So, I definitely want to make sure they get all the credit that they're due. It wasn't just me," Bates said.
He credits officer Celeste Smith for being first on scene and coordinating where officers needed to go, while officers Gabrielle Mason and Preston Kue and Sgt. John Kuehn all assisted by using the rope to pull the men to shore.
Despite praise received on the department's Facebook post for their heroic actions, the officers said they don't consider themselves heroes.
"Every once in a while, we have a situation that we have to deal with that's pretty out of the ordinary. We figure it out together, and then we go back to work. So to me, it doesn't feel like anything special. It was just another day," Bates said.
Smith said, "We just did our job, and then we were right back to work. Sgt. Bates said it was just like an interesting thing that happened during the day and then we moved on."
You may be wondering how the driver got into the pond in the first place. Police said it is an open investigation.
