A Long Island teen crashes her car into the local bay when a nearby teen dives in to rescue the driver after witnessing the crash. Surveillance footage caught the moment when the teen drove her car into the Patchogue Bay, 18 year old Mia Samolunski accidently hit the gas instead of the brake.
Luckily a nearby witness decided to jump in to rescue the teen. Anthony Zhongor 17, also happens to attend the same high school as the driver. He also recently enlisted in the Marines, so he is no stranger to lending a helping hand.
“I just hear a huge splash and everyone running toward the dock,” Zhongor told CBS New York.
“So I just jumped in,” Zhongor told the outlet, with the footage showing him diving in as several others stand nearby and watch.
The heroic teen didn't even realize that the driver and him went to the same school, he didn't think twice about jumping into help since he noticed she was going pretty deep.
“She was banging on the door, banging on the window, trying to break the window … that kind of got me nervous, scared for her,” he told WABC.
“So I just took my clothes off and went into the water … I couldn’t watch anybody suffer in front of me,” he said.
“Dying while suffocating is one of my worst fears, so I couldn’t imagine anyone going through that right in front of me,” he told CBS.
Anthony dove right into action to help save the driver.
“I feel like anyone would make that decision,” he insisted modestly, even though the footage caught several others standing around and watching.
Zhongor was able to get the door open and help the teen make her way back on the dock.
“She just came up to me and said, ‘Oh my God, thank you’ and was crying,” he recalled to WABC.
Zhongor said that he just did what he thought anyone else would do if they witnessed the crash.
The father of the rescued teen was so grateful for the tees heroic action, he personally thanked him for rescuing his daughter he said he was
“the real hero of the day.”
“She’s here today because of him,” Samolinski said of his daughter.
“A car can be replaced … My daughter? Irreplaceable,” he said.
“There were a group of people on the dock. They were filming it — he did something about it,” he said admiringly.
Way to go Anthony! He really Dove into that one!