Cop and Man are Swept Into Drain Pipe and Travel 100 Feet Under Road During Flood
It was like a scene out of The Super Mario Bros. Movie
In The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Lugi falls down a drainpipe in Brooklyn and his brother, Mario, hops in to save him. Last week, life imitated art in a strikingly similar scenario in Florida: A man was swept into a drainpipe while driving and a brave, sheriff deputy jumped in to save him. The incredible rescue was caught on the sheriff's bodycam footage and the rescue mission has gone viral.
According to reports, the motorist was sucked into a flooded drainpipe and pulled under a four-lane highway on the U.S. 98 near Pensacola. The incident occurred in the early hours of the morning, 1:40 a.m. on Friday, June 16, when the sheriff was in the area helping drivers escape from "rapidly rising waters."
"At one point, Deputy Hollingsworth exited his patrol car to approach a citizen who was trapped in these rising waters. As he approached, Deputy Hollingsworth witnessed the citizen go underwater and rushed to his aid," the sheriff's office has revealed.
"Both the citizen and Deputy Hollingsworth were sucked into a drainage pipe and were swept underneath the four-lane roadway of (Highway) 98. They were submerged for approximately 30 seconds and traveled nearly 100 feet underwater. They eventually resurfaced on the other end of the roadway — lucky to be alive."
The unbelievable YouTube footage depicts Hollingswood getting out of his patrol car in the pouring rain. He was sucked into the drain pipe within 20 seconds. There are 30 seconds of darkness.
Then, Hollingswood's voice can be heard: "I got you," he shouted. "Can you believe what just happened to us," a voice says. "I've never held my breath like that in my life." No injuries were sustained by either man.
The video is going viral with viewers commenting on the miraculous rescue. "I just cried my eyes out. That was incredible! They way they hugged and talked to each other when they surfaced. Humanity isn't so bad all the time," commented Cambre Gayle Roberts on the sheriff's office Facebook page. "It is a miracle that they both survived that ordeal. Culverts become bottle necks that increase the velocity of the water if under sized. … That had to be the most terrifying thirty seconds of their lives," adds David Van Damme.
