2 teens jump into pond, rescue man sinking in wrecked car in Coweta County

Davis Laughlin, 18, and Nathaniel Oakes, 14, showed Channel 2's Tom Regan where the car came to rest after it rolled into a pond Thursday in Coweta County.

Two teens jumped into a pond to rescue a man submerged in his car in Coweta County Thursday night, Channel 2 Action News reported.

Davis Laughlin, 18, and Nathaniel Oakes, 14, were returning home from a Civil Air Patrol meeting when they saw a multi-car wreck on Ga. 16, Channel 2 reported.

Left to right: Davis Laughlin and Nathaniel Oakes

Credit: Channel 2 Action News

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Credit: Channel 2 Action News

The crash caused a car, with a driver in his 60s, to run off the highway and into the pond, Channel 2 reported. The two Civil Air Patrol Cadets quickly ran into the pond after him.

“We started getting closer to the car, and the water started getting deeper and deeper until the point where we had to swim,” Oakes said.

Coweta County, and most of metro Atlanta, was under a flash flood warning Thursday night.

RELATED: Woman dies after vehicle flips into flooding creek in Coweta County

They said the car lay submerged nearly half way up the driver’s side window, and the two were able to pull him out of the car and swim him back to the bank, the news station reported.

“(Oakes) grabbed the chest area. I got the legs, and we carried him,” Laughlin said.

They said their Civil Air Patrol training is what helped them during the suspeceful rescue.

“The adrenaline was going through us, but with all the training, you want to remain calm and control of your breathing,” Oakes said.

By the time the two had the man out of the car, Laughlin said the water had risen to the car’s roof.

The man was treated and released from a nearby hospital, Channel 2 reported.

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