A lifeguard in New Canaan, Connecticut, is being hailed a hero after rescuing a man from a pool.The man wasn’t having problems swimming. Instead, he had to be rescued from his car after driving into the pool.“My coworkers and I were setting up the food court umbrellas, and all of a sudden we hear this loud crash,” said Mike D’Urso, a lifeguard at the pool. “We turned around, and there’s just a Tesla sitting in the middle of our pool.”D’Urso said the staff usually “don’t get a lot of emergencies.”“I’ve seen someone fall off the diving board and hit the deck. That was pretty bad, but this one was just out of left field,” he said.Town officials say the driver was trying to park but instead accelerated, going in between a set of trees, through a fence and into the pool.”I’m just thinking … this has got to be some type of training exercise or something,” D’Urso said.D’Urso was one of the first lifeguards to spring into action.“I was just in shock,” he said. “I stayed pretty calm because the guy was breathing, he was conscious. I wasn’t really worried about that, but my main concern was that the water level would rise above his head, so we had to get him out before that happened.”That’s when New Canaan police got in the water with him.Authorities said D’Urso helped officers break a window, open the door and remove the driver safely on a backboard.The pool was closed at the time of the incident, town officials say, and the driver wasn’t injured, but he was transported to the hospital, where he was evaluated.John Howe, director of parks and recreation for New Canaan, said, “Actually, a car in the pool definitely takes the cake. I’ve never seen anything like this here in the town. A lot of little things, but this definitely takes the cake.”Howe says the pool will be closed so the town can drain it and make sure it’s safe for people to go back in.It was a day that these lifeguards won’t soon forget.“I’ve gotten a lot of calls from my grandparents, I can tell you that, calling me a hero,” D’Urso said.
A lifeguard in New Canaan, Connecticut, is being hailed a hero after rescuing a man from a pool.
The man wasn’t having problems swimming. Instead, he had to be rescued from his car after driving into the pool.
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“My coworkers and I were setting up the food court umbrellas, and all of a sudden we hear this loud crash,” said Mike D’Urso, a lifeguard at the pool. “We turned around, and there’s just a Tesla sitting in the middle of our pool.”
D’Urso said the staff usually “don’t get a lot of emergencies.”
“I’ve seen someone fall off the diving board and hit the deck. That was pretty bad, but this one was just out of left field,” he said.
Town officials say the driver was trying to park but instead accelerated, going in between a set of trees, through a fence and into the pool.
“I’m just thinking … this has got to be some type of training exercise or something,” D’Urso said.
D’Urso was one of the first lifeguards to spring into action.
“I was just in shock,” he said. “I stayed pretty calm because the guy was breathing, he was conscious. I wasn’t really worried about that, but my main concern was that the water level would rise above his head, so we had to get him out before that happened.”
That’s when New Canaan police got in the water with him.
Authorities said D’Urso helped officers break a window, open the door and remove the driver safely on a backboard.
The pool was closed at the time of the incident, town officials say, and the driver wasn’t injured, but he was transported to the hospital, where he was evaluated.
John Howe, director of parks and recreation for New Canaan, said, “Actually, a car in the pool definitely takes the cake. I’ve never seen anything like this here in the town. A lot of little things, but this definitely takes the cake.”
Howe says the pool will be closed so the town can drain it and make sure it’s safe for people to go back in.
It was a day that these lifeguards won’t soon forget.
“I’ve gotten a lot of calls from my grandparents, I can tell you that, calling me a hero,” D’Urso said.
