One airman’s quick actions to help an unconscious mother of four escape from a car sinking into a pond off North Carolina’s Interstate 587 likely saved the woman’s life, the woman’s mother said.
Tech. Sgt. William Gonzalez, 28, earned praise this month from his command and a congress member for his speedy rescue of Elizabeth Gray Edwards, of Greenville, after she veered off the highway into the water.
Gonzalez serves with the 821st Support Squadron, based in Pituffik Space Base in Qaanaaq, Greenland (formerly Thule Air Base). But he was in his home state and returning from picking his mother up from the airport on May 4, when he spotted what he thought was a Honda taking an exit too fast.
It wasn’t an exit.
“I even pointed it out to my mom, sitting in the passenger seat, and said, ‘That’s pretty fast for an exit,” Gonzalez said in an Air Force statement. “Not even a couple seconds later, I realized it wasn’t an exit and that the vehicle had swerved off the highway.”
The native of Snow Hill, N.C., wasn’t sure where the car went, but then he saw it sinking under water and quickly slammed on his brakes. Pulling to the side of the road, he told his mother to call 9-1-1.
Then he ran to the pond and jumped in.
“From my mom’s recollection, by the time she had gotten out of the truck and into direct line of sight to where the vehicle had entered the water, I had already run down the hill, hopped over a wire fence, threw a button-down shirt I was wearing on the ground and entered the water,” Gonzalez said.
He reacted so quickly, one witness thought Gonzalez had been a passenger in the submerged car.
“My husband and I had just called 9-1-1 when we noticed two people in the water,” said Ann Letchworth, who had been driving directly behind the vehicle before it drove off the road. “We did not even see the man enter the water from the road because he was so fast.”
The airman couldn’t open any of the car doors because of the water pressure, Letchworth said. They watched him try to push the car closer to shore, as the driver, Edwards, began to climb out of the top of the car.
Gonzalez returned to shore with Edwards and stuck with her while they waited for emergency vehicles to show up.
“From the time I was halfway under water to the time we made it onto the grass, Gonzalez was there until first responders arrived,” said the married mother of four. “I stayed in the hospital for four days and once I was cleared to leave, Gonzalez had already gone back to his duty station in Greenland—he truly was my angel that night.”
Edwards’ mother, Mary Lou Woolard was sure that her passed out daughter would have drowned without Gonzalez.
“She wouldn’t have woken up in time to get out of her car,” Woolard said. “He made a conscious decision to put himself at risk and only think about my daughter’s safety. He is a hero not just for his service but for this heroic act.”
Edwards experienced a medical condition while driving east on the highway and lost control of the 2012 Honda, Sgt. J.S. Smith of the North Carolina State Highway Patrol told The Wilson (N.C.) Times. The car hit several trees and a fence before plunging into the pond, according to a report by investigating Trooper J.M. Lamm, Smith said.
Gonzalez told the local paper that he had to pound on the window several times to wake Edwards. She immediately started panicking, but he helped calm her. She couldn’t unlock the doors or get them open, but he noticed the sunroof was shattered and he instructed her out that way. She cut her hands and arm going through the jagged opening, the newspaper reported.
Rep. Don Davis, who hails from the same hometown as Gonzalez, called the airman a “true American hero” on Twitter and on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives.
Edwards, her husband Gary Williams, and their children Ryan Williams, 23; Austin Williams, 17; Savannah Edwards, 14; and Lilly Edwards, 12; look forward to meeting with the airman the next time he’s back home in the Tar Heel state. He’s transferring to Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in Goldsboro starting in July, The Wilson Times reported.
“Our family is beyond thankful,” Edwards said. “There are no words or acts that will show just how much we appreciate Gonzalez and what he did for my family.”
Gonzalez credits his military training and nine years of service for his quick thinking and rapid response.
“Since day one of basic military training, it’s been go, go, go,” Gonzalez said. “I didn’t think, I just acted.”
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