Watch: Cape Coral police officer rescues woman from car in canal

Reporter: Lauren Leslie Writer: Paul Dolan
Published: Updated:

An officer didn’t think twice when he jumped into a canal, busted out the driver’s side window, and rescued the female driver before the car sank.

The harrowing scene occurred on the 3100 block of Southeast 17th Avenue in Cape Coral.

Neighbors that spoke with WINK News said Jasmine, the woman in the car, called her boyfriend on Snapchat, and only then the boyfriend called 911, finding her via GPS location.

One of those neighbors, Marty Linenko, talked about the officers and the incident.

“They sprung into action. There’s no other way to put it in the sprung into action,” Linenko said.

Another neighbor, Mel Strausburg, and Linenko were up early Tuesday morning.

“This Little guy right here was our alarm. I mean, he hears everything. He was barking like crazy,” Strausburg said.

That’s because it was all happening in their backyard.

“You can hear her just crying and screaming hysterically,” Strausburg said.

It was a grueling 45 seconds from when Officer Kwesi Johnson got out of his car to the young woman being brought to land.

You can hear exhaustion, desperation, grit, and shock all through the audio.

A car can get replaced, and an injury can heal, but you only have one life.

Officer Johnson, who was sworn in as a Cape Coral police officer in Aug. 2021, is being hailed as a hero for his actions.

Cape Coral police shared the body camera video of the rescue. You can watch it below.

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