Martin County - Friday March 3, 2023: Martin County Sheriff Deputies carried out a dramatic rescue of an Indiantown man whose car flipped over into a canal in the wee hours after midnight Thursday morning.
38-year old Darius Jernard Thompson of Indiantown was traveling along SW Allapattah Road just after 1 a.m. when he swerved to avoid hitting an animal.
The impact of the crash sent an automatic emergency alert from his cell phone to the Martin County Sheriff's dispatch center with the longitude and latitude of the impact. MCSO dispatchers were then able to get a Google map location using those coordinates to dispatch deputies to the scene near Indiantown.
Within minutes patrol units arrived at the scene of the accident. They found a vehicle upside down in a canal. They could hear cries from Thompson inside the vehicle pleading for help. Without hesitation, the deputies jumped into the water.
MCSO Deputies Brent Lavy, Cody Dionne, Wesnes Touissiant and Mathew Dunlop entered the water and were able to pry the door off the overturned vehicle and free Thompson who was transported to the hospital where he is expected to recover.
The four deputies are assigned to the MCSO's Uniform Road Patrol Division. The rescue was captured on the officers body cameras.
Click here to view the bodycam footage: https://fb.watch/j21QceU_C3/
In a statement, the Martin County Sheriff's Office commended the bravery of the deputies and and the work of its dispatchers for their perseverance in locating the vehicle using only coordinates automatically launched from the victim’s phone.
Click here to view more bodycam footage: https://fb.watch/j21woMlxSZ/