Massachusetts Hero Smashes Window Of Sinking Car, Saves Girl

GRAFTON, MA — A Massachusetts man was praised as a hero after police said he jumped into an icy lake to save a girl trapped inside a sinking car. Chris Etre of Grafton was driving on Wheeler Road in his hometown Friday night when he saw a car go into Lake Ripple. The driver, a 17-year-old boy, escaped the car and was trying to help free the 18-year-old girl in the passenger seat, but the windows were rolled up and the teen didn't have a tool to break the window, police said.

Time was of the essence as the car became submerged, and that's when Etre sprang into action. Etre said he grabbed a wrench from his car and hopped into the water, not even pausing to take off his heavy boots.

"The front half of the car was already underwater, and the girl was keeping her head up toward the back half where the air was," Etre said.

He tried to break the passenger window, but the airbags made that nearly impossible, he said — so he made a split-second decision to break the back window and pull her out.

Etre said both of the teens were obviously shaken up but thankful for his help. As a father of three — including a 16-year-old who just got a learner's permit to drive — Etre said that when he looked into the car, he saw his own children.

"I'd like to think anyone in my shoes would stop and do the same for my kids," Etre said. "Grafton is a good community."

The boy and girl were unharmed. They were evaluated at UMass Medical Center.

Etre said he only had a few cuts on his hands from the broken glass.

"Nothing a few Band-Aids can't fix," Etre told Patch.

His wife and youngest son were following behind him in their car when the accident happened. "I had to have my 16-year-old drive me home because I was so cold," he said.

The rescue took no more than four minutes altogether, Etre said.

"Without his rapid intervention, the outcome could have been tragic," Grafton Police Chief Normand A. Crepeau Jr. said in a statement. "What he did was very heroic."

The Grafton community has expressed its support in the form of more than 2,000 Facebook interactions commending Etre's actions. His Facebook inbox has been flooded with messages of support since the accident. "I couldn't reply to every message if I wanted to by New Year's," Etre laughed.

The two responses that stuck out the most were from the parents of the teens, Etre said.

"Everyone was very thankful," he said.

Police said ice on the road caused the driver to lose control of the vehicle and crash into the lake. Cold waters and high tides compounded the possible danger the teens were facing, Crepeau said.