MAINEVILLE, Ohio – Robert Timme saw a Ford Escape plunge into a pond and raced to help. Then he used a trick he learned on TV to rescue the driver from the submerged SUV.
A mother and her 8-year-old son could have drowned. Their car went out of control and into the water when the mom suffered a medical emergency and blacked out.
Timme said he was in his backyard Monday and saw the SUV drive straight into the water.
"My girlfriend's saying, 'Go, babe!'" Timme said. "I ran down the walking path as quick as I could and just dove in."
Timme and two neighbors, Joshua Whitehead and Richard Cohen, swam to the sinking SUV.
"There was a little boy in back screaming frantically," Timme said.
They were able to get the boy's door open and pull him out. But the mother was still inside.
"We had to get the vehicle (pressure) to equalize," he said.
With the car quickly filling with water, Timme tried to calm the mother with something she didn't want to hear.
''Go under water and hold your breath."
Timme knew the car had to fill nearly completely with water.
"I grabbed the door and it popped right open," he said.
Little did the mother know that Timme was not relying on any training. He said he saw it on a TV show, "MythBusters."
"I remembered seeing that and it worked," he said.
Emergency crews then pulled the mother and son – and the SUV - safely to the shore.
Timme didn't see himself as a hero especially given the holiday.
"Memorial Day is all about heroes. It's about those who served this country and died for this country. Those are the true heroes. I don't feel like a hero. I just reacted," he said.
