Watch: 2 Colorado women saved after vehicle crashes, flips over into freezing water
The accident occurred on Feb. 22 at 1 a.m. local time in the town of Centennial, where temperatures dropped down to 22 degrees, according to the Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office.
Colorado women saved after vehicle crashes, flips over onto freezing water
Recently shot video shows two women being rescued after their SUV careened off the road and crashed, upside down, into a creek in the Denver suburb of Centennial.
CENTENNIAL, Colo. – Two women were rescued after their SUV careened off the road and crashed, upside down, into a creek in a Denver suburb.
The accident occurred on Feb. 22 at 1 a.m. local time in the town of Centennial, where temperatures dropped down to 22 degrees, according to the Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office.
Police were notified about the accident when a man called it in and then flagged down the officers once they arrived on the scene.
He told them that he witnessed a black SUV speed past him and fly off the road and into a creek bed filled with snow, rocks and brush, the sheriff’s office said.
First responders help one woman out of the vehicle.
(Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office / FOX Weather)
The deputies were then able to locate the vehicle and help pull one woman out. The second woman was only able to be removed by using the Jaws of Life on the SUV.
Police noted that the man who witnessed the accident and flagged down the police is being hailed as a Good Samaritan, responsible for saving the lives of the two women.
"That witness was in the right place at the right time. It was late at night, there was barely anyone on the road, and the chances of these two women surviving were slim, especially being upside down submerged in frigid waters with no way to escape," said Deputy Derek Helveston.
Patrol Lt. Mike Reed noted that, if it weren’t for the witness, officers would not have been able to locate the vehicle amid the debris and darkness of night.
The damage done to the SUV.
(Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office / FOX Weather)
He added that he did not believe anyone could have survived the crash, given the amount of damage to the vehicle and how it had landed upside down in the creek, putting the women in a precarious position.
"The women were submerged in freezing water for 15 to 20 minutes with just inches of breathing room," Reed said. "Had we not found them at that moment, they would have succumbed to hypothermia within minutes, and this would have been a completely different outcome."
Both women were transported to the hospital for treatment for minor injuries. The sheriff’s office said the women, aged 22 and 24, were highly intoxicated, and the driver has been charged with driving under the influence.