Deputies, Good Samaritan help rescue 81-year-old from icy creek

By Greg Payne

Click here for updates on this story

    CLAY COUNTY, Missouri (KCTV) — “I think God puts people in the right place at the right time,” Quintin Conway said.

For Conway, that was the case Thursday. As he was driving home from work on Highway 33, he noticed something pretty scary.

“As I was pressing the hill to come home, I noticed a car ahead of us veer off the road,” Conway recalled.

Where that car landed was in an icy creek.

Conway immediately sprang into action, calling 911 and heading straight for the stuck vehicle.

“I hopped into the creek, and it was about thigh high of cold water, and went over to him and was beating on the window and, sure enough, he just rolls the window down,” Conway said. “He was surprised to see another person, obviously, I think. And, he was scared and he didn’t know where he was.”

Conway was able to talk to dispatch from the elderly man’s car safety feature. Sheriff’s deputies quickly arrived.

Jumping into the water initially was Clay County Sheriff’s Deputy Joshua Doss, who realized the 81-year-old man was stuck in the car with freezing water covering his feet.

“I’m like, ‘We got to get him out so that we can get him warmed up,’ because I didn’t know if he was having a medical emergency or anything,” Deputy Doss said. “That was all that was going through my mind at the time.”

After Deputy Doss got the man out of the vehicle, several deputies came in to assist in getting the man to safety and warmth.

“We do this on a day-to-day basis, “ Doss said. “So, you react to every situation as calmly as possible to get through it, because that guy was in a crisis at that time.”

Making an appearance in the rescue video was Deputy Doss’s K9 Duke, who was barking all throughout the rescue.

“He was really worried about me being in that water,” Deputy Doss said.

Thanks to Duke’s partner, the other deputies and Conway, the elderly man is back home safe.

Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.