KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Two good Samaritans helped save a man’s life Monday night. A pick-up truck plunged into Indian Creek near 103
rd and Stateline Road. If not for two brave men, the driver might be dead, according to police.
Divers and salvage crews needed an hour to pluck a Ford F-150 out the creek. However, the driver needed just seconds to put it there.
Watch EXCLUSIVE VIDEO of the Water Rescue
“As soon as I saw it, I thought, this isn’t good,” said Conrad Pfeifauf, a witness.
“I (was thinking) man, that guy is not going to drive into the creek,” said Larry Williams, another witness. “He did. So, I (decided) I have to help him.”
Dozens of people saw the crash. Only Williams and Pfeifauf were brave enough to dive in.
“Me, being a Marine, we’re trained to help,” Williams said. “We’re trained to react.”
Williams is a retired Marine swimming instructor and weapons of mass destruction safety expert. He was parking his car preparing to workout in a nearby gym when he witnessed the crash.
Pfeifauf manages a nearby produce tent.
“I was right here working and I heard something and looked over and just caught the truck going down the hill,” Pfeifauf said.
The driver told police he dropped a lighter then lost control of his pick-up. Williams watched. He said the truck accelerated into the water. Pfeifauf was the first to jump in.
“It started sinking and people started yelling, ‘Somebody has got to get in after him! Somebody has got to get in after him,’” Pfeifauf said. “So, I jumped in.”
So did the old Marine who remembered his training.
“I knew we had to get him up into an air pocket, even though he was unresponsive,” Williams said. “Still, we pulled him up into an air pocket and he was still able to breathe.”
They said the driver was conscious but did not speak a word until fire rescue crews arrived. The 25-year-old Grandview man went to a hospital. Police expect him to survive. Police are still investigating the crash.
Investigators consider Williams and Pfeifauf heroes, though neither felt like one.
“God has you at a particular place at a particular time for a particular purpose,” Williams said.
