ALBANY, OR (KPTV) -
A 56-year-old Sweet Home man is alive and well thanks to the brave actions of one ODOT worker.
At 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, a line of cars was stopped on Highway 20 eight miles east of Albany as workers installed new reflectors.
Police said a driver didn't notice traffic was at a standstill and he rear-ended a car being driven by Dean Stilwell.
The impact caused a chain reaction crash involving five cars.
Everyone ended up on the pavement except Stilwell, whose car slid off the road and plunged into a nearby pond about 10 feet deep.
That's when ODOT worker Troy Elverfeld heard screams of panic.
"These people on the side of the road were saying there's a vehicle submerged in the water and there was somebody in it," said Elverfeld. "All I could think of is we've got to get this person out."
Elverfeld ran to the tool box on his backhoe and grabbed a metal rod used to adjust the bucket.
He stood at the edge of the pond and took one boot off, but then decided he couldn't waste anymore time.
"I just jumped in with one boot on and one boot off and with this tool. I swam over to the vehicle and held on to it and looked for the window so I could start punching a hole in it," Elverfeld said.
After a few whacks, Elverfeld finally broke the window, cleared out the glass and felt a man inside.
He started pulling on him, but realized he was still strapped in seat belt.
Elverfeld came up for air, then went back down and the man was free, so he pulled Stilwell to the surface.
"He was just real wide-eyed and breathing really hard and just not knowing what happened," Elverfeld said.
At first, Elverfeld said Stilwell told him there was someone else in the car, but it turned out he was just confused and in shock.
Everyone made it out of the pond and the crash safely, and Elverfeld said he wouldn't hesitate to jump in that water all over again.
"It's just a job that I did, to get the person to safety," he said. "That's all."
Stilwell had no official comment Wednesday, but his family says he is grateful to Elverfeld and plans to thank him in person.
Copyright 2012 KPTV (Meredith Corporation). All rights reserved.
