A stirring scene featuring a 17-year-old springing into action to save a young woman who plunged her car into a body of water was captured on video.
The woman accidentally hit the gas pedal instead of the brake Tuesday night, sending her vehicle into Patchogue Bay in Long Island, New York, authorities said.
With many people looking on, Anthony Zhongor jumped into the water and pulled the driver to safety on the dock.
“I heard a huge splash and saw everyone running toward the dock. I don’t know what happened,” he told New York City NBC affiliate WNBC.
“She was trying to open the door, first. She couldn’t get the door open and started banging on the window,” Zhongor said.
Police identified the woman as Mia Samolinski, 18.
“Mia Samolinski was driving a Subaru Outback in a parking lot off South Ocean Avenue, adjacent to Patchogue Bay, when she stepped on the gas pedal instead of the brake and drove into the water at approximately 10:10 p.m.,” the Suffolk County Police Department said in a statement.
Police said Samolinski and Zhongor, who both live in Patchogue, were not injured.
“Dying, being stuck is one of my worst fears, so I couldn’t imagine someone going through that right in front of me,” Zhongor said.
Samolinski’s father said he was grateful for Zhongor’s actions.
“Thank God somebody was here and wasn’t staring into their phone and did what needed to be done,” Charles Samolinski told WNBC.
“If he wasn’t there, who knows where we’d be standing here right now,” he added.
Zhongor plans to join the Marines after graduating high school, the station reported.