Two Texas police officers are crediting "divine intervention" after they made a daring rescue to save a woman who was trapped in a submerged vehicle at a local lake on Independence Day weekend.
Dallas Police Department's Sergeants Paul Kessenich and Matt Carlson told Fox 4 that they were on a separate call on July 3 at 3 a.m. when the dispatch rolled in of a woman stuck in a submerged vehicle just down the street at the local Bachman Lake.
"I just happened to be in a parking lot right," Carlson said to Fox 4. "Not to be too religious, but what are the chances for the sergeant of the dive team, Paul, being like 60 seconds away from her."
"I put it on divine intervention because we just were there at the right time," Kessenich said. "And that lady needed help, and we were the right people to help her at the time."
When they arrived, they heard muffled screaming from the woman who was trapped underneath the water.
"When we heard the muffling, we knew," Kessenich said. "And I'm yelling to Matt. I said it's time to take our gear off."
"As he's formulating plans telling me exactly what we're going to do, she just pops up, and she starts flailing her arms, and we know she's not going to make it," Carlson said. "So I just looked at Paul and said, ‘I’m going in!’"
"We stripped our gear pretty quick. And when we dove in, we got to her at the car," Kessenich recalled to Fox 4. "And we held her at the trunk that was still just hovering above the water line."
Body camera footage released by the Dallas Police Department shows additional responding officers arrive at the scene and watch as Kessenich and Carlson haul the woman's body from the lake.
"Keep her up," one of the officers is heard instructing in the suspenseful footage. "Grab both her shoulders."
FATHER IN MAINE DROWN WHILE TRYING TO RESCUE DAUGHTERS FROM POND
After the woman was placed on the landing, officers can be seen laying her on her back and administering lifesaving CPR to the unresponsive woman.
"I gave her one breath and start compressions. And after compressions, she came back to life," Kessenich recalled to Fox 4.
She soon starts coughing, and they ask for her name.
"Stay right there," one officer said. "Got a pulse."
The unidentified woman was taken to a local hospital, where she is recovering well. Dallas police did not share how the unidentified woman crashed into the lake.
