ALLENDALE CHARTER TOWNSHIP, Mich. — An 83-year-old Coopersville man is lucky to be alive after his truck appeared to veer off the road right into a pond in Ottawa County Friday afternoon.
The ordeal happened in the 1200 block of 60th Avenue near Warner Street in Allendale Township.
Several good Samaritans saw it happen, and jumped into action as the truck began to take on more water and lurch deeper into the pond.
"All of the sudden, I see this car coming and drive straight on into the lake," says Francis Dadson, who was helping a friend move at a house nearby.
"Yo! Get Out," Dadson is heard on video saying. "I don't know what the hell happened. All I saw was him just driving off the road and straight down here."
Video, shared by Dadson, shows how the group worked together to turn over a rowboat, find some paddles and then make their way to the sinking truck. They had to take the boat without asking the owner.
"I was like, this feels so wrong right now but I don't care," says Dadson. "We need to do something."
Dadson pushed two others off the shore, who were able to break open the truck's window and drag the driver out.
"We were fast enough and brought a few blankets over," says Dadson. "I was like, are you ok? What happened? He said I must have passed out."
Dadson says the man was alert and talking when he was taken into an ambulance, and believes if it weren't for the good Samaritan's who helped, the man may not have survived.
"If we didn't have a boat or nothing, honestly he would've been down in the water," says Dadson.
Witnesses said the man in the truck was unconscious until they got up to him and pulled him out.
Once first responders arrived, the bystanders got the man to shore to safety. First responders were able to get him into an ambulance. Witnesses said the man was alert and talking.
He's recovering in the hospital now and his condition is stable.
The Ottawa County Sheriff's Office dive team worked on getting the truck out of the water.
Ottawa County Water Rescue
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