Yonkers fire captain rescues 2 people from truck submerged in Saw Mill River

YONKERS (WABC) -- A Yonkers fire captain rescued two people from a truck that was partially submerged in a river in Westchester County.

Robert Smith was on his way home from work on Sunday evening when a truck struck the guardrail on the Saw Mill River Parkway and ended up in the Saw Mill River.

Captain Smith said he did not hesitate to jump in and help.

"I got the corner of the windshield out and then ripped the rest of the windshield out with my hands, and got them out that way," says Captain Smith.

He helped the male passenger to the bank, and then carried the female driver to safety. Neither of them were injured.

Smith said he was just 'doing his job', and that any of the men and women who he works with would have done the same thing.

"It's happening so fast, it's kind of slow motion," Smith said. "I'm saying to myself I know what's going to happen here."

It was right place, right time for Smith, "Butch", as everyone knows him, who watched a red pickup truck hydroplane across the Saw Mill River Parkway in a heavy downpour.

"I see it careen off the guardrail and started to go right, and I knew that river was right there. I was kind of like, 'Don't', and it did," he said.

A woman in her 30's at the wheel and a male passenger in his 50's, were trapped inside the truck. Butch, who had just come off-duty at the Yonkers Fire Station 9, jumped into the river.

"I really needed a rock to bang the corner of the windshield so I could hand hold it and pull the windshield out," he said. "Then I helped the gentleman out and got him to the bank."

The female driver was still in the truck with the river water rising from the heavy rain.

"I didn't want her cutting her feet so I put her on my back and pulled her up to the embankment," Capt. Smith said.

All in a day's training for this 16-year veteran whose actions are no surprise to the firefighters at Engine 309 and Ladder 72 who work with Butch.

"If something is going to happen you want to make sure Butch is there," said firefighter Kareen Blackwell. "It's definitely training but the ingenuity of the rock, just fast thinking."