RIVERVIEW, Fla. – Andrew Johnson never expected to become a hero on Tuesday night, but when he noticed a woman falling into a pond, he didn’t hesitate.
What we know:
When Johnson was making his dinner at his home near Willow Blue Star Loop Road in Riverview, he noticed something odd.
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“It’s very rare you see anyone at the water at all,” Johnson explained. “I’m always looking out in the pond anyway, and I saw a dog in the water.”
Then he noticed his neighbor gingerly walking toward the edge. When he looked away for one second, he noticed she was gone.
“I took off running down there,” he said. “When I got down there, she was halfway in the water screaming, holding her knees and screaming and crying.”
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The Rescue:
He quickly got her out, checked on her and ran to get her son.
“I asked her if she was okay, and she was screaming,” he remembered. “When he heard me knocking, he jumped up and started screaming ‘oh my God.’”
They quickly called 911, and they came to check on her. Her son told Johnson that she just had a knee replacement in June and was unsteady on her feet.
He’s just grateful he could be there at the right place at the right time.
What they’re saying:
Andrew Johnson knew his neighbor would be okay after a small moment of levity.
“She was screaming, and her son said she was 82, and she came out of her pain and said, what? I’m 81,” Johnson explained.
He said he’d do it all over again, and he can’t wait to be reunited with her.
“These are things that happen, and you never know why, but thank goodness they work out,” he said. “I told her to take care, and I’ll see you when you come back, and I’ll come visit you to make sure you’re okay.”
The Source: FOX 13 gathered the information for this story from the good Samaritan who rushed to pull an 81-year-old woman out of the water.