Posted on 12/16/2019 6:05:30 PM PST by robowombat
Massachusetts Hero Smashes Window Of Sinking Car, Saves Girl Chris Etre was driving in Grafton when he saw a car sinking in a frigid lake, police said. Etre jumped in to save a teenager trapped inside. By Samantha Mercado, Patch Staff
Dec 16, 2019 11:50 am ET | Updated Dec 16, 2019 2:04 pm ET
Massachusetts Hero Smashes Window Of Sinking Car, Saves Girl-3 (Grafton Police Department)
The submerged car from which Chris Etre rescued a girl. "What he did was very heroic," Grafton Police Chief Normand A. Crepeau Jr. said. "The outcome could have been tragic."
The submerged car from which Chris Etre rescued a girl. "What he did was very heroic," Grafton Police Chief Normand A. Crepeau Jr. said. "The outcome could have been tragic." (Grafton Police Department)
"What he did was very heroic," Grafton Police Chief Normand A. Crepeau Jr. said. "The outcome could have been tragic."
GRAFTON, MA — A Massachusetts man was praised as a hero after police said he jumped into an icy lake to save a girl trapped inside a sinking car. Chris Etre of Grafton was driving on Wheeler Road in his hometown Friday night when he saw a car go into Lake Ripple. The driver, a 17-year-old boy, escaped the car and was trying to help free the 18-year-old girl in the passenger seat, but the windows were rolled up and the teen didn't have a tool to break the window, police said.
Time was of the essence as the car became submerged, and that's when Etre sprang into action. Etre said he grabbed a wrench from his car and hopped into the water, not even pausing to take off his heavy boots.
"The front half of the car was already underwater, and the girl was keeping her head up toward the back half where the air was," Etre said.
He tried to break the passenger window, but the airbags made that nearly impossible, he said — so he made a split-second decision to break the back window and pull her out.
Etre said both of the teens were obviously shaken up but thankful for his help. As a father of three — including a 16-year-old who just got a learner's permit to drive — Etre said that when he looked into the car, he saw his own children.
"I'd like to think anyone in my shoes would stop and do the same for my kids," Etre said. "Grafton is a good community."
The boy and girl were unharmed. They were evaluated at UMass Medical Center.
Etre said he only had a few cuts on his hands from the broken glass.
"Nothing a few Band-Aids can't fix," Etre told Patch.
His wife and youngest son were following behind him in their car when the accident happened. "I had to have my 16-year-old drive me home because I was so cold," he said.
The rescue took no more than four minutes altogether, Etre said.
"Without his rapid intervention, the outcome could have been tragic," Grafton Police Chief Normand A. Crepeau Jr. said in a statement. "What he did was very heroic."
The Grafton community has expressed its support in the form of more than 2,000 Facebook interactions commending Etre's actions. His Facebook inbox has been flooded with messages of support since the accident. "I couldn't reply to every message if I wanted to by New Year's," Etre laughed.
The two responses that stuck out the most were from the parents of the teens, Etre said.
"Everyone was very thankful," he said.
Police said ice on the road caused the driver to lose control of the vehicle and crash into the lake. Cold waters and high tides compounded the possible danger the teens were facing, Crepeau said.
.... Clearly not a Kennedy....
IBCJ
If this story was from 50 years ago and Ted Kennedy was the hero, he likely would have become president, perhaps instead of Carter.
Wonderful heartwarming story!!!
What a coincidence. I just got a great deal on a used car online in Grafton.
How did the writer of the story go from age 3 to eighteen for the trapped victim?
Cut his hands on the glass, ah nothing a few Band-Aids won’t cure.
This guy probably went home, got changed, and went to work.
Take the nearest landmark, road, or street named after a politician and rename it after him.
The windows were rolled up, so the girl couldn’t get out. How then did the boy get out?
Open the door.
Because the “-3” is a typo that does not appear in the headline of the actual article.
Great news ! Once in The winter we did the same thing !
my buddy and I were driving rather intoxicated on roads and southeastern Pennsylvania in the winter and there is a rather vicious river there across the road and we do not to try to drive across it but a car tried to get swept away in upside down and we jumped out of the car in the pouring rain and smashed the window ! Puuled outvthe girl to safety as her car washed down the river and who knows where it went ! and then we said hey glad you’re OK ! and fled the scene because we were so dang drunk !
( not drunk enough to try and drive across that river though ! )
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