MELBOURNE, Fla. – Three West Melbourne police recruits rescued a man on Saturday from a canal, according to the West Melbourne Police Department.
The crash happened at the canal located on the Northwest Corner of Minton Road and Henry Avenue, in front of the West Melbourne Police Department after the department’s spring festival.
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The car veered off the road and crashed into a drainage canal, police said.
The three police recruits Mitchell Faircloth, Joshua Kennedy, and William Hicks came to the aid of the driver, with Kennedy calling 911 and Faircloth and Hicks jumped into the canal to remove the driver from his vehicle.
The men were assisted by City Council member John “Coach” Tice who along with Kennedy helped pulled the man, Faircloth and Hicks up the embankment.
The elderly man driving the car appeared to have a medical condition and was possibly in shock, police said.
The recruits used their completed First Aid training to help the man until paramedics arrived, police said.
“We felt obligated because it was the right thing to do,” Faircloth said.
Faircloth, Kennedy and Hick have finished nine weeks of their training with the Eastern Florida State College Law Enforcement Academy, officials said.
They are expected to graduate after 22 weeks of training.
“These young men acted heroically and without hesitation. They exhibited the exact qualities I look for when hiring police officers. I could not be more proud of their actions and anxiously await for them to become certified police officers,” Chief of Police Richard Wiley said.
"I’d also like to thank City Council member John ‘Coach’ Tice for his assistance during this incident,” Wiley continued.