'Thank you, Jesus!' Video shows Florida deputy, citizen sucked into drainage pipe in raging flood waters

'Thank you, Jesus!' Video shows Florida deputy, citizen sucked into drainage pipe in raging flood waters



A sheriff's deputy and a citizen were sucked into a drainage pipe Friday, barely escaping with their lives, Florida law enforcement officials reported.

"David, can you believe what just happened to us? Just breathe. Just breathe," Escambia County sheriff's deputy William Hollingsworth said after he and a citizen identified only as "David" emerged from a drainage pipe about 100 yards from where they had been sucked into it.

"Oh, thank you Jesus! I thought I was dying," David said in the video.

"When I came out, you were right behind me," David also said, recounting the terrifying incident to other first responders at the scene.

"Me and you man," David said, as the two clasped hands. "That's an experience for life. I appreciate you, brother."

Deputy William Hollingsworth was on patrol Friday night, helping stranded motorists caught in rapidly rising waters, the Escambia County Sheriff's Office wrote in a Facebook post.

When Deputy Hollingsworth got out of his patrol car to help a citizen trapped in the rising waters, he saw the individual dip beneath the water. Hollingsworth rushed to his aid, putting his own safety aside.

As Hollingsworth attempted the rescue, both he and the citizen were sucked into a drainage pipe. The pair was then swept beneath Highway 98, a four-lane roadway.

They were submerged for about 30 seconds, ESCO said, traveling about 100 feet to eventually resurface on the other side.

The two are "lucky to be alive," ESCO wrote.

Dramatic footage of the event was captured on Deputy Hollingsworth's bodycam.

The terrifying event is "is an example of the exceptional courage displayed by the men and women of law enforcement every day," ESCO also wrote.

Escambia County sheriff Chip Simmons explained that the area had experienced severe weather and torrential downpours that peaked in the early morning hours the day the event occurred.

Watch video below provided by the Escambia County Sheriff's Office showing the moment Deputy William Hollingsworth and the citizen he was trying to rescue were swept into the drainage pipe, sent beneath the highway, and eventually emerged on the other side.



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Video: It's all smiles before crooks invade home; seconds later it's all backsides as they run for their lives from homeowner firing 'AK-47-style gun' at them



Law enforcement officials have released video of last week's thwarted home invasion in Pensacola, Florida, which features suspects running for their lives after the homeowner began firing an AK-47-style gun at them.

The Escambia County sheriff's office said two of the suspects have been arrested, a third has been identified, and a fourth remains unidentified.

What are the details?

The sheriff's office said in an earlier post that the homeowner was alone his Pinestead Road residence at 11:42 p.m. July 7 when the incident took place.

In its latest post, the sheriff's office said three individuals approached the front door of the victim’s home, and two of them pushed the victim into the house and attacked him after the victim unlocked the door.

One of the individuals can be seen smiling in the video before heading inside the home:

Image source: Escambia County (Fla.) Sheriff's Office video screenshot

The third individual at the front door — who remains unidentified — pulled a handgun from his pants and waited outside.

Image source: Escambia County (Fla.) Sheriff's Office video screenshot

During the home invasion, the victim’s gun fell to the ground, and one of suspects picked it up, the sheriff's office said. But the victim ran to a back room, grabbed another gun, and started shooting at the intruders, officials said. In its earlier post, the sheriff's office called the homeowner's second weapon an "AK-47-style gun."

With that, the trio "ran frantically" from the home, the sheriff's office said:

Image source: Escambia County (Fla.) Sheriff's Office video screenshot

They then entered a vehicle where the fourth suspect — 18-year-old Joseph Roman Sanders — was waiting and drove off, hitting a nearby mailbox, the sheriff's office said.

Here's the Ring doorbell video of the incident:

What has happened since?

Da’Torrance Hackworth, 20, and Antonio Dewayne Dean Jr., 18, were arrested and charged with use/display of a firearm during a felony, possession of a firearm by a felon, larceny, grand theft of a firearm, and robbery/home invasion with a firearm, the sheriff's office said.

Dean has active warrants for other alleged offenses, including domestic violence battery, carjacking, aggravated assaults with a firearm, and robbery with a firearm, Sheriff Chip Simmons told the Pensacola News Journal.

In the below Twitter post, Dean's mug shot is on the left, and Hackworth's mug shot is on the right. The post went up prior to their arrests:

\u201c\ud83d\udea8WANTED\ud83d\udea8 Deputies say Antonio Dean Jr. (18), Da'Torrance Hackworth (20) and another man broke into an Escambia County man's home last night. He shot at them for his protection.\n\nSheriff Simmons says the homeowner will not be charged. https://t.co/KvSvxCQL2l\u201d
— WEAR ABC 3 (@WEAR ABC 3) 1657300980

Sanders, the driver, is still wanted for home invasion with a firearm, the sheriff's office said.

The suspect who waited outside the front door and pulled a handgun from his pants remains unidentified, and the sheriff's office is asking for the public's help in identifying him.

Image source: Escambia County (Fla.) Sheriff's Office

If you have any information, please call Crime Stoppers at 850-433-STOP or the ECSO at 850-436-9620, authorities said.

What else has the sheriff said about this incident?

Simmons told "Fox & Friends First" Thursday that the homeowner "did absolutely nothing wrong. If someone breaks into my front door, barges and attacks me or my family, they're going to get shot, and I afford that same consideration to the residents of my county."

The sheriff also told the News Journal that the homeowner would "absolutely not" be charged for shooting at the home invasion suspects.

"The homeowner's protecting himself, and in Florida, in Escambia County, you can protect yourself," Simmons noted, according to the paper.

WKRG-TV reported that the incident is being investigated as a stand-your-ground case.