They Really Are Heroes': College Football Players Rescue Woman from Sinking Car While on Spring Break in Texas

A group of college football players on spring break in Texas are being credited with saving the life of a woman trying to escape her car after driving it into the water.

Image source: WHO-TV

Iowa State University football players Jack Spreen, Josh Jahlas, Spencer Benton and Anthony Lazard were in South Padre Island, Texas, for spring break on March 16 when Jahlas stepped out onto the hotel balcony around 8 p.m. That's when he noticed 22-year-old Luisa Maria Castro trying to escape her car, which was sinking into the Laguna Madre bay.

The players rushed down to the water to help the woman, along with the aid of former ISU football players Matt Swoyer and Joe Doran, according to the Des Moines Register.

“She was like, ‘Get me out! Get me out! Get me out!'" Lazard said.

The men jumped into the bay, swam over to the car and began punching the windows.

“I was getting worried that we were going to watch this girl drown to death," Lazard said, "because no matter how hard we were hitting [the window], it wasn’t cracking or spidering for a while.”

Finally, the men created a hole in the glass just large enough to help the woman out of the sinking vehicle.

“They really are heroes, and I am forever grateful for what they did,” Castro said.

Castro was arrested and charged with driving while intoxicated. Her blood alcohol level was nearly twice the legal limit of 0.08, the Register reported.

“I have no words to express how appreciative I am of them," Castro said.

"Even when I messaged them, I still felt that the words or what I was saying to them to thank them and how grateful I was -- it just felt like that wasn’t enough," she added.

Officer Michael Schiltz, who witnessed the incident, said that the car “completely sank in less than a minute” and, had it not been for the football players, Castro would have drowned.

(H/T: WHO-TV)

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