Three strangers unite for divine act of kindness

MELROSE – Three strangers. One divine moment in time. No time for words. No time to think. No consideration of the consequences. Thankless gestures without knowledge of the outcome.

Clint Ripley, Aaron Crews or Gerald Hartman weren’t looking for acclaim when they instinctively jumped into action to a submerged SUV in a retention pond in front of the Winn-Dixie on State Road 16 between Keystone Heights and Melrose shortly after noon on Monday, Aug. 5.

There wasn’t time to think about the possible rewards or the penalties.

“My wife and I pulled into Winn-Dixie, and I could barely see the truck,” Ripley said. “I only saw about 5% of the vehicle when I saw it. It was already submerged. I thought that was a vehicle. It was already underwater.”

Ripley called 911, and the dispatcher told him not to enter the water. He said she told him not to risk his life to save another. By then, he was already walking toward the SUV.

Clay County Fire Rescue received the call at 12:11 p.m.

“It seemed like a couple of minutes, so I went into the water,” Ripley said.

As he entered the pond, Hartman joined him.

“The other guy was ‘an older fella.’ He used the other end of his knife, and I used a metal shackle. We started pounding on the sunroof,” Ripley said. “It seemed like it took forever to get through it, but it was just a matter of minutes. As soon as my hand went through, it sliced my hand just a little bit. I started breaking more glass. Then I tried seeing under the water, but it was mucky. It was very dark water. I just started putting my hand in there and grabbing stuff. After several minutes of pulling the debris out, I grabbed his leg. That’s when the fire truck pulled up. I yelled at him right away. When I discovered it was a leg, I said, ‘We have one.’ So I pulled him out and just got his head above water. By that time, one of the fire rescue guys was there. A Fire Rescue guy just swam him across the shore.”

Enter Crews.

He was leaving Dollar General when he saw the commotion next door. He was a former fire rescue firefighter and EMT. When he saw the victim pulled from the pond, he threw his wallet and cellphone in his truck and reacted by joining the rescue effort.

“I knew one of the first responders there,” Crews said. “I carried some of his equipment over to one side, and then he told me to grab a backboard, and I  handed the backboard over the wall. They got the guy on the backboard, and we carried him to the side. Then, I did CPR on the guy until the ambulance got there."

Crews said there wasn’t time to think about how to respond. It was all spontaneous.

“It was a team effort,” he said.

Ripley never met Crews, Hartman or the victim. He’s just glad he was there.

“God put us in the right place at the right time,” he said.

Privacy rules prohibited Clay County Fire Rescue officials from revealing his condition. Crews said he believed that although he had been underwater for several minutes, he may have had a pulse when he left the scene. It was a miracle they found him. Why not pray for another miracle?

Nobody knows how the SUV got into the water or how long it was there. Ripley said there were no skid marks, tire tracks from SR 21 into the pond, or damage to the front of the truck.

None of the three knew where the ambulance took the victim. Although social media mentioned that the man didn’t survive, they may never find out how it all actually ended. That’s the penance strangers pay for selfless acts of kindness.

Sometimes words seem too hollow, but it’s all a society has.

Thank you.