DEERFIELD BEACH, Fla. – Five firefighters and a Broward Sheriff's Office deputy jumped into a canal Thursday night to save a man whose white Nissan plunged into the water along the southbound lanes of Interstate 95 near Hillsboro Boulevard, authorities said.
"Together they all worked to rip the sunroof off the vehicle," Broward Sheriff's Fire Rescue spokesman Mike Jachles said. "It was fully submerged (and) there was a man trapped inside."
Jachles said the driver, identified as Dominic Christopher, 25, of Cape Coral, didn't have a pulse when rescue crews got to him after smashing open the window of the sunroof.
According to an incident report, Christopher lost control of his car and verred off the roadway on the west shoulder of I-95 before he crashed through a fence and into the canal.
Rescuers were able to revive him and take him to Broward Health North in Pompano Beach, Jachles said.
"If you say that they went above and beyond, that's what they do," Jachles said. "That's what they're trained to do is to put their life in harm's way for others."
It remains unclear if severe weather in the area played a factor in the single-vehicle crash, but it was raining at the time, Florida Highway Patrol Sgt. Mark Wysocky said.
Christopher is listed in critical condition.