4 Jan 12

“Saturday (Christmas Eve), a colleague who conducts training similar to mine, found himself confronting a life-threatening situation as he was driving in UT.

The car in front of him skidded out of control and wound-up in a river, upside down. Water was thigh-deep, and moving rapidly. The driver of the wrecked vehicle got out, but his car, under pressure from rushing water, then moved and blocked the driver’s-side door he had come out of. Trapped in the car remained three small children, and the driver (their father) was unable to open any of the other doors and extract them. The cab-portion of the car quickly filled up with water!

Several other motorists stopped and rushed into the icy water in a effort to help, but all windows were now under water, and doors remained locked. My colleague, seeing the urgency of the situation, drew his G23, stuck it under water, and fired a single round into the corner of a side-window, angled into the river-bottom. The window shattered.

The three children were, by this time, mostly unconscious, and, in the darkened interior, my friend could not find seat-belt releases. So, without delay, he drew and deployed his folding knife (brand unknown), cut all belts loose, and extracted the children, one by one. Seat-belts are notoriously tough, but my friends’s blade was razor-sharp and sliced through them effortlessly.

All three children were hypothermic, but recovered quickly and have been subsequently released from the hospital.

As noted, there were several other well-meaning citizens present, who bravely endured the freezing waters, but only my friend was prepared! He had necessary tools at hand, and the boldness to act!

Those two critical attributes, (1) through preparation and (2) boldness, saved the day, snatching victory from the jaws of disaster. My friend unhesitatingly took unilateral, dicey, audacious action, not waiting around for “someone else” to “do something.”

We should all be similarly prepared, and similarly courageous!

One final note: friends at Glock do not recommend firing any Glock pistol under water! However, in this case the G23 in question functioned normally, and is now back in my friend’s holster, none the worse for wear!

/John