Police officers rescue tow truck driver in Port St. Lucie (FL)

[TowNews]

 

Two police officers rescued a tow truck driver from drowning at a crash scene in Port St. Lucie.

 

The tow truck driver tried to pull a Corvette out of a lake along NW St. James Boulevard and NW Helmsdale Way on Tuesday morning when he went under.

 

It all began when the driver of the Corvette lost control and landed in the lake.  He broke a window and swam to shore.

 

A short time later, a tow truck driver arrived at the scene.  Danny Hahn jumped into the lake in an effort to find the Corvette. Police said he got so tired he couldn't swim back to shore.

 

Police said Officer Corona swam out to Hahn with a ResQ Disc, and Officer Druga pulled both men to shore.

 

Hahn went to the hospital as a precaution.

 

RESOURCE LINK

[GRUMPS The Towman]

Glad to hear the Operator will be OK Thanks to the quick actions of the officers... Just goes to show, Unless your properly trained in water rescue or recovery techniques then STAY OUT OF THE WATER..

[rreschran]

I'm sorry, but, with due respect, I question the tower's choice to go into the water so to focus on what lessons are learned here? The City of Port St. Lucie is on the Atlantic Ocean and near by Lake Okeechobee. Both the St. Lucie County Sheriff's Office and Martin County Fire Rescue have dive teams trained to make water rescues. As Grump's alleuded to, it's far too dangerous to go into water and attempt these kinds of recoveries unless the tow operator is a certified diver. For example, I resided in San Diego CA (on the Pacific Ocean) for most of my life growing up in the tow industry. To this day, I don't know any San Diego tow companies that have certified divers on their staff. Water recoveries are generally worked by the lifeguards.

 

I believe tow companies should have the name and number of a certified (salvage) driver company in their computer's resource/contacts page. If the officers were on-scene, why wasn't a dive team called? But, thankfully they were equipped with a rescue disc and reacted quickly to save the operator. Thank you officer's Corona and Druga for saving Danny. And, using this as an example, I believe the LE community should make it policy that water rescues and recoveries ARE worked with professional divers and NOT tow operators, especially in locations where divers are accessible.

 

There's a reality to suggest most cases, towers aren't divers and generally don't have the skills to go into cold, murky and deep water. Besides, once you enter the water, you become part of the food chain ... they've got big ass gators there in fresh water.        R.