Father, son save family in overturned car

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    OSCODA COUNTY, Michigan (WNEM) — A father and son hailed as local heroes after saving a family after their car overturned in a swampy area in Oscoda County.

Jace Lear said it was fate.

“Right place, right time, doing the right thing,” Lear said.

The right thing was saving a family from their flipped car. After a basketball game, he and his father John Zanti were in line at Taco Bell.

“We were next to order, and Jace, just out of the blue, says, I’m tired, let’s just go home,” Zanti said.

“I had this gut feeling,” Lear said.

“So, we pulled out of line just before ordering, which we would never do,” Zanti said.

If they didn’t, a three-year-old, and her parents, would have had a much different fate.

On their way home, they spotted the overturned car.

“My dad slammed on the brakes and was like, oh my gosh, look at that car. I just did what I thought was right in the moment. I ran out there,” Lear said.

“Everything just happened real fast. Just seeing Jace trucking through there to get to that car, it was amazing,” Zanti said.

There’s some debris left from the vehicle. Lear said at the time, it was frozen, and he was waist deep in freezing water.

After helping the trio out of the overturned car and freezing swamp, they warmed up in Zanti’s truck, awaiting an ambulance.

“It’s really setting in now; it’s been a few weeks. At the time, we just did what we had to do,” Zanti said.

“It’s a life changing event, for sure,” Lear said.

Tawas High School awarded Lear with the act of heroism award and a quilt of valor. Taco bell gave him, and his father gift cards for their bravery that night.

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