By Ashley Remkus
Alabama Media Group
FLORENCE, Ala. — At first, he was hesitant to jump into the freezing-cold creek. But LaDrake Roy’s adrenaline kicked in when he heard a group of men yelling for help at the scene of a Florence wreck Saturday morning.
“At first, I was a little iffy about getting in the water,” Roy said. “But I did it. It’s just how I was raised, to always help others.”
Roy was among a group of citizens who jumped in Cox Creek to help save a man whose car went over a storm culvert in a two-car collision at the corner of North Wood Avenue and Cox Creek Parkway. The elderly man’s SUV landed upside down in the creek after falling 25 feet, Florence police said. The wreck happened around 10:30 a.m. Saturday’s high temperature was 43 degrees.
Roy said he was leaving a workout at a nearby gym when he saw the crash scene in front of the Big Star on North Wood Avenue. “I saw one of the cars and actually thought it was somebody I knew,” he told AL.com. “When I pulled into the Big Star parking lot, I heard some guys screaming for help from the creek.”
Roy, a 27-year-old University of North Alabama graduate and former Lions football player, ran down the creek bed, jumped in the water and helped the others turn the elderly victim’s SUV upright.
“It was just something -- like my adrenaline was rushing,” he said. “I just really hope that man’s OK. I’ve had him on my mind all day.”
‘We saw him take a breath’
Tony Roberts and his wife, Sadie, live in an apartment complex just down the street from the wreck scene. When Sadie Roberts went to take out the trash Saturday morning, she knew something was wrong.
“She came running in and said, ‘Call the police. There’s been an accident,’” Tony Roberts said.
After they called 911, the Roberts decided to drive down and see if they could help. They saw people standing at the edge of the woods around the creek and went to investigate. Tony Roberts said he followed his wife down the creek bank to the SUV that was submerged in the water.
“There were already four of five people down there, so we just helped them get the car pushed back up right,” he said. “That’s when we saw the elderly man. When we saw him take a breath, that was relieving.”
Tony Roberts, a security manager for Walmart, said it wasn’t until after the rescue that he realized how important the moment had been.
A ‘heartwarming’ moment
“It was one of those moments that you’re shell-shocked,” he said. “But afterward, I realized these were just people working together to save this man’s life.
“There was a young black man, an older white man, a white woman, all kinds of people there just helping out another person,” he continued. “Even with everything that’s been going on in the world, all the things we’re hearing on the news, none of that mattered. The only thing that mattered was helping this man and making sure he was OK.”
Florence police Sgt. Greg Cobb said in a Saturday-evening news release that the victim had been taken by helicopter to Huntsville Hospital. The man’s condition wasn’t immediately clear. The woman who was driving the other vehicle was taken by ambulance to Eliza Coffee Memorial Hospital. Neither driver has been publicly identified by police.
“Today, there’s a lot of sadness and things that make you think people are not good,” Roberts said. “This was just the opposite of that and it was heartwarming.”
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