WALDORF, Md. — A stunning story of survival and heroism is just coming to light thanks to the Charles County Sheriff’s Department.
The department released dashboard and bodycam video Tuesday of a dramatic water rescue that happened just as Thanksgiving weekend was coming to a close. The man who was rescued from a sunken SUV saw the video for the first time, and thanked the responders who saved his life, as well as his two dogs.
“I have nothing but gratitude for them," survivor Martin Watts of Baltimore said after watching the video for the first time with the officers standing by him.
The incident happened Nov. 26 at dusk during heavy rain and bone-chilling temperatures. A 911 caller reported that Watts' Ford Explorer slid on wet pavement and rolled over a guard rail on US-301 just north of Mattawoman-Beantown Road. The SUV continued rolling into a storm water pond where it quickly sank out of view.
Sherriff Corporal Ian Bier, the first to get to the crash scene, was flagged down by witness Brian Moy, who alerted Bier to the pond.The officer's bodycam video shows him dumping his gun belt before leaping into the 38-degree pond with a rescue tool designed to break windows. The car was already completely submerged.
Watts said he was in a pocket of air only about 3 inches between the water and the ceiling of his smashed up SUV.
"I knew I was going to drown," he said.
Cpl. Bier was quickly joined by Officer Charles Watley and PFC Matthew Neel, who also leapt into the water on the driver's side of the SUV. Officer Dominiquea Trotter jumped in on the passenger side.
The officers said they could not touch bottom and were treading water to breathe.
“I remember that vehicle filling up with water fast," Watts said. "I tried the power windows. I could not get them down. I was completely awake and aware of what's going on. I was just powerless to do anything about it."
The officers were able to break windows. Watley said he reached in the SUV and felt a man's knee.
“I realized this is a guy," Watley recalled.
Neel, Watley and Bier pulled Watts through the broken window. They said he appeared unconscious, but opened his eyes and took a breath as officers hauled him onto the bank of the pond.
Meanwhile, Officer Trotter pulled Watts' two dogs from the passenger side of the SUV and saved them as well.
Video shows Watts with life-threatening hypothermia being walked to an ambulance.
“It was very hard to watch and it's even harder to be the one that they were coming to get," Watts said. “When I heard that they were doing something to honor these officers that came in the water and rescued me, I had to be here. I had to thank them personally."
Watts, his rescuers and his two surviving dogs -- GG and Rogue --came together for a video release viewing at the sheriff's station in Waldorf. Witness Brian Moy joined via FaceTime.
“There's no way they'd have found me without your help," Watts told Moy.
"I'm very thankful to see you are well," Moy responded. "And to me, it was more amazing watching these guys go into action."
Watts said the crash happened as he was returning home from dropping his son off at St. Mary's College of Maryland.