Woman Pulls Driver From Sinking Car After He Suffers Medical Episode Behind The Wheel

A metro woman is being hailed a hero after her quick thinking saved a man's life.

Lori Jandula says her instincts kicked in, helping her save the life of a man who was having a seizure behind the wheel.

"Very quickly my thoughts just went to 'Oh my goodness they need help," Lori said of the moment she saw the man’s car sinking into a nearby pond. "It was really scary."

She was driving home with her kids when a driver caught her attention.

"It seemed to me like the person inside wasn't in control of the vehicle," she explained.

She immediately knew something wasn't right.

"Someone's had a heart attack or stroke or something medical," she recounted thinking in the moment. "When I came over the hill I didn't see the vehicle at first."

The driver had swerved off the road, crashing into a pond near Porter and Tecumseh in Norman.

"It was very far out into the pond and sinking very quickly," she said.

This is when Lori says her instincts took over.

"I remember for a second just thinking 'Okay we're doing this'," Lori said.

She pulled over and jumped into action.

"I went into the water and just tried to get to the vehicle as quickly as I could," she explained. "By the time I was about waist deep in the water, the windshield was almost fully submerged."

Lori says she found the driver trapped and confused in the sinking car.

"I reached in and grabbed anything I could get a hold of and pulled him through the door," she said.

She helped him get to shore as emergency crews arrived.

"He had a seizure disorder and he had had a series of seizures that weekend,” she said. “So, he was completely unaware of what was going on."

And now Lori can say she knows exactly what she'd do in a situation where someone needed her help.

"It's something I’m going to be proud of for the rest of my life," she said, smiling.

Lori says the man she helped is doing okay and will fully recover from the accident.