Travis Popen didn’t hesitate when he realized a car had driven into Sarnia Bay while on a walk with his girlfriend and son on Sunday.
“I heard screaming — like a lot of screaming — and I looked to my right and saw people jumping out of the way, but I didn’t realize what was going on, then I got a glimpse of the car,” Popen told The Journal this week. “The car jumped the grass boulevard, then it went over the sidewalk and hit the white railing.
“When it hit the white railing, it went into the water and I just ran towards where the car broke the railing,” he continued. “I looked, and no car, it was submerged…then it floated back up and I saw the lady in the window trying to get out.”
The 36-year-old father says he doesn’t consider himself a hero for diving into the water to rescue the elderly woman.
“My mind went blank…someone needed help — that’s all I knew. And I didn’t know who was in the car, or how many, but when I saw the lady I dove. I just went for it…I swam to her window and she must have gotten her seatbelt off because half of her body was coming out and I pulled her out the rest of the way,” recounts Popen. “She was screaming that she couldn’t swim. So I swam her to the railing and I got her to climb up and got people to help pull her up.”
Another man jumped in after Popen to help the woman’s husband who was driving the car.
Popen explains how he went back to help them after getting the woman to safety.
“They were having a hard time too, that water was cold. When I hit the water it took all the breath right out of me. I couldn’t believe how cold it was,” said Popen. “I really thought they would have had more injuries, the way they hit the railing and the water like that. They came out unscathed. They were pretty shaken up but I was surprised there weren’t more injuries.”
While the police did reach out to Popen to thank him for his quick actions, he hasn’t had a chance to talk to the couple because of all the commotion after the rescue — and because of privacy laws still, doesn’t even know their names.
“Everything happened so fast…the officer called me to ask if they could give out my name to the media. And I was talking to him and I was like ‘I’m not really doing this to get out there…that is the last thing I’m thinking about. I’m really thinking about the lady and her husband I just want to make sure they are okay.’”