Newly released body camera footage shows a New Jersey police officer rescuing a woman from floodwaters caused by the remnants of Hurricane Ida that struck the Northeast last week.
The Ewing Police Department, which posted the video on Facebook, said it was captured on September 1, when the "area experienced historic flooding."
As the video begins, Ewing Police Officer Justin Quinlan is wading through the floodwaters and holding on to a metal guardrail on the side of the road. Quinlan is then seen using the metal guard rail to maintain his balance in the water as he notices a woman stranded.
According to the Facebook post, the woman was forced to exit her vehicle because of the floods and "found herself trapped in fast moving water."
After Quinlan encountered the woman, he is seen grabbing her arm and telling her to place her leg over the guardrail to remain stable in the fast-moving water.
"This is gonna be our brace. We're gonna hold on to this," Quinlan is heard telling the woman in the video.
"I don't know what's moving with this water, so I don't want to try and walk across," Quinlan tells the woman. "God forbid there's a big log that comes loose or something like that. What I want to try and do is stay here until they get here and they'll rescue us. They're gonna have the boat come out."
The Ewing Police Department said in the Facebook post that Quinlan stayed with the woman on the guardrail for over 20 minutes while waiting for a rescue team to respond.
"Through a collaborative effort by Ewing Fire Stations 30, 31, and 33, both the female and Officer Quinlan were able to successfully rescued," the Ewing Police Department said in the post. "We would like to recognize Ewing Fire Department Captain Kyle Brower and Firefighter Oscar Estrada who entered the water and executed the rescue."
Speaking to WTXF-TV in Philadelphia, Quinlan said that while he noticed the floodwaters moving rapidly, he was thinking: "I have to go. I can't sit here and watch something bad happen to her. So I'm going.
"I got two little kids at home, two little girls, and I knew I had to get back to them and back to my wife. And I wanted to make sure she got to see her family again, so I wasn't going to let her go," Quinlan told the station.
Newsweek was directed to the Facebook post after reaching out to the Ewing Police Department for comment.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
Matthew Impelli is a Newsweek staff writer based in New York. His focus is reporting social issues and crime. In ... Read more
