I know I’d think twice before leaping into an alligator-infested pond. So it takes a hero to dive in with no thought to the danger it might pose to him, and focus solely on trying to help someone out. But that is exactly what Florida resident Dwayne Hingos did recently while at work.
Hingos said he was taking a break outside the Medline warehouse, when he heard a loud splash in the nearby retention pond. Grabbing a co-worker, he raced toward the gated pond. Unbeknownst to him, a driver had suffered a medical emergency and crashed her car into the pond. “It just happened so quick,” Hingos recalled. As the co-worker unlocked the gate, he headed toward where the car had plowed past the fence and into the pond.
A sign was posted outside the retention pond where a woman crashed her car into it. Photo by WFTS
The area is gated because it was infested with alligators, but Hingos never hesitated. “I just started running,” he said. After crossing what amounted to at least a football field in length, he jumped into the water where the woman’s car was sinking quickly.
After you get about five feet in, it really drops. It was a lot deeper than I thought,” Hingos said.
Inside the partially-submerged car was Tamara Huber-Lucas. She was on her way to pick up her 18-month-old child from daycare and was driving home, when suddenly she lost consciousness briefly. By the time Hingos made it to her car, Huber-Lucas was awake and trying to get to the only exit left available to her – the open sunroof.
“The angel God sent me just kept telling me to go to the sunroof. Go to the sunroof!” Huber-Lucas said. “And that angel was Mr. Dewayne.” Hingos managed to pull her from through the sunroof just seconds before the vehicle went underwater completely. City officials praised Hingos for his actions that day, saying he demonstrated “exceptional bravery and composure” during “a critical moment of distress.”
Hingos and Huber-Lucas hug. Photo by WFTS
“His decisive action, while putting his own personal safety at risk, undoubtedly saved a precious human life,” officials said. The hero was honored for his actions during a meeting of the Auburndale City Commission. There he got a chance to meet with Huber-Lucas again. “You’re a hero. I don’t even know how to thank you,” Huber-Lucas told him.
You saved the whole family.”
She gave him a hug that she said was long overdue. Hingos said he never planned to save a life, it was just instinct to do the right thing, and not think about if there was an alligator nearby. “If my family was in this situation, I’d want somebody to do the same thing,” he said. Watch the lovely reunion between Hingos and Huber-Lucas below.
