Longwood first responders rescue elderly man, 2 dogs out of sinking SUV

LONGWOOD, Fla. - Several Longwood first responders are being credited with rescuing an elderly man and his two dogs out of a sinking SUV after a medical emergency caused him to drive into a retention pond. 

It happened shortly before 10:30 a.m. Tuesday near the intersection of Rangeline Road and State Road 434.

The city's mayor, Matt Morgan, happened to be stuck in traffic nearby and witnessed the heroic rescue.

"This is right now number one with a silver bullet for me as far as one of the most amazing things, if not the most amazing thing, I've ever seen in my life," he told FOX 35.

Morgan says he watched as Longwood police officers and firefighters helped pull the man out of the SUV by breaking glass and cutting his seat belt. From the scene, the man was transported to the hospital, where he's expected to make a full recovery.

"They knew exactly where they were going, what they were doing, how they were going to do it, and it was only a matter of milliseconds in how they reacted in such short order to save a man's life and his two dogs on top of it. I thought that was amazing," Morgan said. 

Rebecca Waldron, who owns ice cream shop Jack the Dipper nearby, saw the rescue and says the timing couldn't have been better.

"It was pretty quick from the time they got him out of the vehicle and away from the vehicle that it pretty much sunk just like that," she said.

Morgan says he plans to recognize the first responders who saved the man's life at a future city commission meeting.