A group of Tennessee fishermen turned heroes Saturday afternoon when they floored their boat, slammed into a rapidly sinking car, busted out the rear window, and yanked a trapped woman to safety with mere seconds to spare on Old Hickory Lake.
The dramatic rescue unfolded at the Shutes Branch Recreation Area in Mt. Juliet during the wrap-up of a major championship bass tournament. The woman had been sitting in the parking lot for several minutes before her car suddenly accelerated, jumped the curb, and plunged into the water at speed, according to witnesses.
Jackie Light, who fishes the lake every weekend with buddies including Ronnie Smythia (both work at a Nashville Penske shop), heard the engine revving. “We heard this loud motor revving up, and when we looked, this car just come, pooh, popped into the water,” Light told local media. “That’s when we were just thinking it was an accident from hitting the accelerator pedal instead of the brake.”
Two boats raced over in under a minute. Light’s boat carried him and two companions; a second boat held John Edwards and Craig Allen. The woman inside was unresponsive and appeared to be holding the doors shut. The men pounded on the windows but couldn’t break them.
With the car tilting and water pouring in, Smythia shoved the throttle forward and rammed the vessel into the rear of the car. The impact popped the back window free. “Just as the car was going down, something came to him to rev that boat into the back glass, and when he did, it busted,” Light said.
Craig Allen immediately reached through the shattered opening. “I reached in and grabbed her by the right arm, under her armpit, and started pulling her to me,” he recalled. As the car continued to sink, the force helped extract her. She was pulled into the boat and rushed to shore.
Light described the moment the water hit her skin: her eyes “opened up really wide. It’s like something re-sparked her back into life.” She was taken safely ashore. Video shot from shore by John Young captured the frantic scene of the men leaning over the half-submerged white vehicle as it listed in the water.
The car was later recovered from the deep water by Hamblem’s Wrecker Service, its rear window clearly smashed out. The Tennessee Highway Patrol, Wilson County Sheriff’s Department, and Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency are investigating how and why the vehicle entered the lake. Officials have not released the woman’s identity or further details about her condition.
The fishermen downplayed the hero label. “I wasn’t really thinking. I was just reacting. I’m no hero,” Smythia said. Light added simply that he was thankful they were there to give the woman a second chance. Local reports called it the best catch of the day on a lake that was otherwise focused on bass.
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