SPRING, Texas — A Conroe man believes he was in the right place at the right time when he rescued a driver whose truck got swept into a flooded drainage ditch.
A severe storm broke out on Tuesday when Robert Chance drove through the Spring area with his girlfriend, Renee Young, and her daughter. Chance said they took a wrong turn and noticed a red truck that appeared to be stranded in high water.
“The first thing he said he wanted to do was check if someone was in there,” Young said. “He was just ready to jump over the edge, he's not thinking, he's just going, it's primal."
In a video captured by Young and her daughter, Chance was seen taking a closer look at the waterlogged truck before he rushed back to his truck to grab a hammer. The video continued and showed Chance using the hammer to break the front windshield.
“When I saw him in there, I immediately went to my toolbox,” Chance said. “He was waving so we could see him, and you could see his boots, at least that's what it looked like to me, was his boots hitting the windshield.”
After he broke the windshield, the video ended. That's when they said they called the police. Speaking to us Wednesday night, Chance said he later broke the rear passenger window and pulled the truck’s driver out that way. They climbed out of the ditch with a ladder provided by another good Samaritan.
“We were in the right place at the right time. He did what his body said he should do and that man got to go home,” Young said.
Chance told KHOU 11 that he’s still in contact with the man he saved -- who is doing well. However, despite his actions, he doesn’t consider himself a hero; just a construction guy with the right tools for the job.
"I see somebody in need, especially in this dire of need, I just jump in and go straight for it," he said. “If it happened again today, hands down, I’d jump in and do it even if it was worse … no questions asked."
Tuesday’s high water rescue was not his first. Chance said he previously saved a woman from a flooded vehicle in Pasadena after Hurricane Harvey in 2017.