ORLANDO, Fla. – A good Samaritan rescued a man trapped in his vehicle that plunged into an Orlando lake Sunday afternoon after he hit the gas instead of the brake, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.
Troopers said Jeffrey Pigg, 63, of Orlando, was trying to pull his Toyota Corolla into a parking spot at the Advanced Auto Parts store on Lake Underhill Road around noon when he instead drove into a parked Camaro, hitting a man who was working on the vehicle.
After hitting the Camaro, Pigg's Corolla sideswiped the store's building and plunged into a nearby retention pond, causing him to become trapped inside, troopers said.
Shanon Slominski was working at a nearby animal hospital when the incident took place jumped in and rescued the man from the car, the Highway Patrol said.
"I saw somebody in need and that's what people are supposed to do when they see somebody in need," she said. "I called 911 right away."
Pigg was not injured during the incident.
"It was deep enough," Slominski said. "You sink about a foot down, it's all muck underneath. It could've been a lot worse. I didn't really hesitate, because I couldn't. You don't really think about the snakes, the fish and the turtles that are in there with you."
The man who was hit while working on the Camaro was taken to a nearby hospital to be treated for minor injuries, troopers said.
The driver was cited for careless driving, according to the Highway Patrol.