Worker pulls driver from water

ALBANY, Ore. – An Oregon highway worker who rescued a man from a truck that sank in a pond said he came to two quick conclusions before plunging into the water: A metal bar would be handy if the windows are up and there’s not enough time to take off both of his construction boots.

“All I was thinking was, ‘We need to get this person out,’ ” said Troy Elverfeld, 47. “I just jumped in with one boot on, one boot off.”

Using the metal bar he grabbed from a backhoe at his work site east of Albany, Elverfeld bashed open a window of the pickup.

With his hands, he cleared the glass away.

It took three dives for him to extricate Dean Stillwell, 56, of Sweet Home, Ore., and get him to the surface, alive.

Stillwell was treated at a hospital and released. State workers fetched his truck from the water that night.

Elverfeld, a 15-year state Department of Transportation worker, showed a cut and swollen hand the day after, the Albany Democrat-Herald reported.

“I had to do what I had to do – get him out,” Elverfeld said. “I’m just glad I was able to save him. I’m glad he’s alive.”

The paper said it wasn’t the first time Elverfeld acted in an emergency.

Two years ago, a car caught fire after a crash. Elverfeld and his foreman threw dirt and gravel on the vehicle to quell the flames until public safety workers could pull out the driver.

It was just instinct to help out, Elverfeld said. “Hopefully, it’s a first instinct for everybody.”