Three neighbors swam out and saved the sinking driver

A 90-year-old driver lost control of her vehicle during a storm in Champaign, Illinois, in August, and it plunged into a flooded retention pond on North Prospect Avenue. As the car sank to its roof in the downpour, three local residents swam out toward it, soon joined by four Champaign Police Department officers. Together they pulled the woman free. On September 29th, the city honored them. The residents received Community Lifesaving Awards, read aloud for their families, and the four officers were given the Chief's Challenge Coin for setting their own safety aside. The driver came too, and thanked the people who reached her. Her son, who said he serves as a US Coast Guard officer, left a note on the department's Facebook post. "I know full well how dangerous rescues can be and commend you for your quick and heroic actions," he wrote. He would know.