Landscaper jumps into pond to save woman from sinking car, Illinois cops say
A landscaper was working when he watched a vehicle crash into a nearby pond, sinking deeper into the water.
He jumped into action — and he’s credited with playing a “vital role” in saving the driver, the Plainfield Fire Protection District said in an April 16 news release.
“I got to go right now. I heard the ambulance far away. I got to do this quickly, because I don’t know if they’re going to get here in the right moment. I don’t know if they’re going to get here. So when I saw her in the window I said, ‘Nope, I have to jump,’” Tino Mora, the person credited with saving the driver, told CBS Chicago, describing what he taught when he saw the car sinking.
First responders were en route to the Naperville pond when the man jumped in the 6-foot-deep pond to help the driver who couldn’t swim, fire officials said.
“I opened the door with my right hand and I didn’t see no person inside, just water, so I stick my left hand through the door and I feel her jacket or something and I grabbed her jacket and lifted her in the air so she could breathe,” Mora told WGN.
He held the driver’s head above the water until firefighters arrived, officials said. Emergency responders then pulled the person out of the vehicle and out of the water, fire officials said.
The two people involved in the accident declined transport to the hospital, officials said. A tow company and divers then pulled the vehicle from the water.
Mora told WGN he went to Walmart to buy dry clothes then got back to work.
Naperville is about a 30-mile drive southwest from downtown Chicago.
This story was originally published April 17, 2025 at 3:32 PM with the headline "Landscaper jumps into pond to save woman from sinking car, Illinois cops say."
