Officers rescue man trapped in submerged car

KATY, TX (KTRK) -- They don't have capes, or superhuman powers, but a pair of Fort Bend County deputy constables are nonetheless considered super heroes, following a rescue at the height of Tuesday's rain and floods.

Precinct 3 Lieutenant Shawn Sayers and Deputy Phil Crowell carpool to and from work. Both live in Navasota.

On the drive home, on their usual route along Katy Hockley Cut-Off Road, the pair saw a compact car upside down in a flooded ditch. Traffic was flying along the two-lane country road. No one was stopping to see if someone was inside the car, or if it was abandoned after it went off the pavement.

The deputies stopped traffic. Lt Sayers approached the car, took off his gun belt, and jumped in the murky water that continued to rise.

About that time, he says, "I heard a sound, a moan." Then he went to work.

It involved sharing the water with fire ants. He had to dive into the water, and felt for an open window in the car. When he came up for air, he saw the driver, suspended upside down, trapped by his seat belt.

While Crowell called for an ambulance, Sayers pulled out his knife and cut the seat belt. The driver was freed. Sayers pulled him from the car, even as the water continued to rise.

The man had been in there with half of his face submerged, apparently getting air from one nostril.

"He collapsed as soon as I got him out," Sayers said. "All the strength had gone out of him."

The driver, believed to be a prison guard, was taken away by ambulance.

Neither deputy knows the man's name, nor his condition. Their concern was instead, to save him. Thanks aren't necessary for them.

It's unknown how long the driver was in the water, how long he had been suspended, fighting to survive. It's clear no one else passing by on the road had stopped to help.

Says Sayers, "We just responded like human beings. It's our job."