Woman Hears Reports of Her Death on TV

Jena David is hugged by her father, David G. David, after reports that she had died in the Detroit metro’s Aug. 11 flash flood. (Screenshot: WDIV, Channel 7, video)

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Like many urban myths, the one surrounding the supposed death of Jena David – reported last week as a casualty in metro Detroits Floods of 2014 – had a truthful beginning.

Even without national headlines reporting David’s death, the true part – about a still unknown Good Samaritan struggling against chest-high floodwaters, hoisting David on his shoulders and carrying her to safety after her car was swamped – is dramatic and worth telling.

It’s one of those faith-reaffirming stories, where help arrives out of nowhere in a life-threatening crisis. Though David, 30, didn’t die, she feared she might as floodwaters inched higher around her vehicle during the massive flooding that took metro Detroit by surprise on Monday, Aug. 11.

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“It’s kind of weird that somebody would come out of nowhere and just carry you,” David told WXYZ, Channel 7. “It kind of makes you think there’s someone out there watching you.”

It’s unclear exactly where the true story ended and reports began circulating listing her as a third casualty in the flooding. Two deaths have been confirmed – a 100-year-old woman who drowned in her basement, and a 68-year-old man who died while pushing his car from the floodwaters.

After rescuing David from her car, the stranger carried her to Buddy’s Pizza on Van Dyke in Warren, where rising waters had forced diners onto tables. A witness told The Detroit News he “appeared through the haze,” brought her inside and covered her with a tablecloth to keep her warm.

David has had to reconstruct what happened next, because she blacked out and was taken unconscious to a hospital. The next several hours are a blur, she said.

Warren Deputy Police Commissioner Louis Galasso told The Detroit News it’s not clear how David came to be reported as dead. “I got the information from the fire department that the woman had died, and then I relayed it to the media,” he said.

On Thursday, Glasso got a call from the fire commissioner, who reportedly said, “You know that lady who died at Buddy’s? Well, she just walked into Buddy’s looking for her property. She’s not dead. She wanted to know if anyone had her purse.”

Over at the Macomb County Medical Examiner’s Office, officials were scratching their heads for answers after a rash of media calls asking about the dead woman.

“We never got that body,” Denise Calhoun, a spokeswoman told The Detroit News. “We’ve been getting calls all week from the media, but she never came here. We decided to check into it ourselves because we’ve been getting so many calls. We called all the hospitals, but we found nothing.”

David, a psychology student at Wayne State College, recognized her story in media accounts of the historic flooding event. Her twin brother first alerted her, urging her to tune into The Weather Channel. “You’re on The Weather Channel ….” he reportedly said, according to WXYZ. “They think you’re dead.”

She turned on the television and saw an account on WXYZ about a woman who died after she had been taken by boat from the pizza restaurant in Warren. “... My heart dropped,” David told The Detroit News. “It was a strange feeling.”

David and her family hope to meet the kind stranger.

“God bless you,” she said, according to The Detroit News. “I’m very grateful that you were there. I want to say thanks to that guy, and all the rest of the people that cared to help. I’m very blessed to know there are good people out there.”

Her father, David. G. David, said he wants to meet his daughter’s angel as well.

“I wish to meet him,” he said tearfully to WXYZ. “God bless him. That’s all I can say.”

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