Video: Good Samaritans haul man from truck in river

DOUGLAS, Mich. (WOOD) — Video shows bystanders rescue a man only seconds before his pickup truck was submerged in the Kalamazoo River in Douglas.

It happened around 12:40 p.m. Thursday near Blue Star Highway and Washington Street, according to Douglas Police Department Chief Steve Kent. Lt. John Damveld with the Allegan County Sheriff’s Office, which also responded to the scene, told News 8 a truck hit several objects, including a utility pole, before going into the river.

Bystanders were able to pull the driver, a 55-year-old South Haven man, from the water before the truck went under.

Video recorded by a witness shows boaters pull up to the truck as it floated slowly down the river, its cab sinking as it filled with water. One threw a fire extinguisher at the back window of the cab, smashing it out. The driver’s head emerged from the back window and two people climbed into the bed — which was sinking more slowly than the cab — and grabbed the driver’s arms and shoulders to haul him free as the truck went completely under. Others then pulled him and the bystanders out of the water and on to their boat.

Deputies made it to the scene by way of a bystander’s pontoon boat, the sheriff’s office said.

The driver, who was the only person in the truck, was taken to the hospital. Investigators believe the crash was medical-related. His injuries were not life-threatening, the sheriff’s office said.

One of the rescuers got a minor ankle injury and took a private vehicle to get care, deputies said.

One man who witnessed the rescue told News 8 that the good Samaritans were in the right place at the right time.

“Instinct kicked in,” witness Jerry Donovan said. “For one, there’s a danger underneath this bridge because this river, there’s current and everything going there. I don’t even think they thought about it. They just went and did what they had to do, but those people they saved the life today. Plain and simple, that’s how it is.”

Douglas Police Chief Steve Kent agreed.

“This would’ve been a different outcome if it wasn’t for the folks who were out there on their boats. That was our only access immediately to get to him,” he said. “And the truck actually submerged very quickly and, again, the driver was quite disoriented. … Fortunately, they were there.”

The crash remains under investigation.

—News 8’s Rachel Van Gilder contributed to this report.

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