INDIANAPOLIS -- An Indianapolis mother wants to find the stranger who jumped into the icy water and saved her 4-year-old son when their car slid into a retention pond earlier this week.
two cars slipped on black ice, sliding out of control and plunging into a retention pond near 8th Street and Township Line Road.
LaToya Upshaw was taking her three kids, ages 4, 11 and 17 to dinner at Applebees when the car hit black ice, sliding out of control and plunged into a retention pond. A second vehicle also hit the same patch of black ice at the same time.
"There was some black ice there and all I remember was the car just spinning out of control. It spun several times and then took off into the air and into the water," Upshaw said. "It seemed unreal, just, there was so much water. It happened so fast and there was just so much water."
Upshaw says her daughters sprang into action as soon as the vehicle hit the water.
"My 17-year-old just kind of like, sprang into action, told us what to do. She was like, 'get out of the window, get TJ.' The girls got him unbuckled, got him out," she said. "I had to get out of the window, I crawled out of the driver's side window. I had to jump onto the hood and my daughter and i got on top of my car."
"There was a man who just appeared at the window. It seems like out of nowhere, he just appeared and was like, 'What can I do?' and my daughter was like, 'Take my brother, take him!' And he grabbed him and he was gone. And I never saw him after that."
Upshaw said her and her daughters then waited on top of the two cars for rescue crews to arrive and by the time she got to the shore, the stranger who saved her son was gone.
"I didn't get his name. Nobody had any information on him. We just know he got my son to shore and then someone said he just got in his car and left."
Upshaw says she hopes someday she can personally thank him for risking his own life by jumping in the frigid water and saving her son.
"He just jumped into it. He was like an angel, and then I never saw him again," she said. "He just came in and did exactly what he was supposed to do. I am just so, just so grateful for him and thank God for him and I just wish him, just all the best wishes."
Upshaw says she is also thankful for the Pike Township Fire Department, Station #61, who she says they went above and beyond to help her and her family after they need to be there, as well as the divers and tow truck company who went out of their way to get her purse out of the water.
"Just to thank Pike Township Fire Department, they were just amazing. They stayed with us the whole time. They brought us food and made sure the kids were just happy and comfortable. They went above and beyond, it was Station #61: Donna, Jackie, Kathy, and Paul. They didn’t have to do anything that they did after it was all over and they did and I appreciate them so much. The divers, I wish I knew the name of the towing company. I would shout them out, he went in and fished out my purse, he didn’t have to do that. Just, it was just an amazing community of support out there. It was like the worst thing, but it was the best thing to see so many people united for one thing, my family, so thank you."
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