WATCH: St. Louis County officers dive into cold water to save driver, firefighter

ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. (KMOV) - News 4 has obtained body camera footage showing the moment two St. Louis County officers dove into cold water Monday afternoon to save a driver and a firefighter.

Just after 4:15 p.m. Monday, that footage shows first responders at the scene of a truck that drove into a pond in north St. Louis County just after 4:15 p.m. A Black Jack firefighter went into the water to pull the driver out of the truck. St. Louis County police officers Don Shultz and Victoria Sarver also responded to the scene, preparing to help if and when needed.

“It’s a natural urge for most of us to run and try to help people because we wouldn’t be in this profession if that wasn’t the case already,” Officer Shultz said.

Officer Shultz told News 4 as Black Jack firefighters put on their water rescue gear, Officer Sarver and himself took off their gear to be ready to dive into the water.

“In the back of your mind, you’re always thinking step two, three and four,” said Officer Shultz. “What you wanna do is make sure that you can get to the person as fast as you can because a water rescue is not exactly safe already as it is. Then you’ve got the cold temperatures with that.”

St. Louis County police told News 4 there’s no specific water rescue training for patrol officers. However, when those officers saw the firefighter and driver go under water in the pond, they immediately dove in to help. Officer Sarver said the truck went completely underwater as well.

“It’s my instinct when someone is yelling for help to go help,” Officer Sarver said. “That’s my job and I do it every day. I don’t think I thought of anything other than I need to go and help who needs it.”

While Officer Sarver and Officer Shultz were swimming in to help, the firefighter came up from under the water with the driver in his arms. Officer Sarver told News 4 that allowed them to slow down and work with crews to get them out of the water.

“It was very cold,” Officer Sarver said. “I just remember trying to tell myself to breathe to get through the shock of the cold water.”

The officers said it was a best case scenario situation because all emergency crews were okay and the driver only had a minor injury.

The officers recommend keeping glass breakers in your car, that way if you find yourself in a similar situation there is a way to help yourself get out.

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