Man is alive after pick-up truck plunges into bay, saved by good Samaritan

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EUREKA, Calif. (KIEM) – A man is alive after his pick-up truck ended up in Humboldt Bay over the weekend after he experienced a medical emergency, according witnesses.

A man who only wanted to use his first name for the story says, he heard a loud crash but didn’t think anything of it, at first.

“I was taking a nap on my boat in the public marina an heard a loud crash sound and that’s common here with the dumpster,” said Alex.

However, in this case it wasn’t the dumpster.

“I got up and there were three fire trucks, two paramedics and three cops,” he said.  

Kayitlyn Franceschi -who was out walking her puppy- says she saw a black pick-up truck barreling through the parking lot near the Wharfinger Building – hit a pole before plunging into the bay’s frigid water.

“He was speeding really fast, clearly, he took out the pole, probably 80 miles an hour, but he wasn’t’ moving at all when he was in the water,” she said.

 Francheschi says, it appeared the victim had medical emergency.

“I see this lady jump in and try to help the man out of his car,” she said.

YouTube star Patty Mayo was on his boat docked about a thousand feet away when the incident happened.  

“I saw that there was a truck with its butt in the water, going down, and there was a lady in a pink sweatshirt rushing down the rocks, ” he said. “And while she was doing that, another gentleman went behind her out to get the victim out of the car, which was great because by the time I got there, the car was completely submerged.”

Mayo says the woman swam to the sinking truck to help the victim, who appeared motionless. 

“I was able to get the victim into my boat and the two good Samaritans as well and bring them to the dock to be accessed by EMTs, ” he said.

Mayo says the victim was incoherent when he was taken to shore to be checked out by medical personnel.

“For what the EMT told me he was going to some medical event possibly a stroke,” he said.

 As for the lady in the pink sweater, she disappeared before anyone could find out her identity.

“I never caught her name we talked for a minute on the back of the boat,” he said. “She got out there faster than anybody else and she saved that guy.”

The submerged truck will be removed sometime this week, according to the Eureka police who were on scene at the time of the incident.

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