When a 19-year-old Florida auto parts employee heard screams coming from a nearby canal, he stripped to his boxers, jumped into the water and pulled a 56-year-old man about 100 feet under a low-lying bridge to safety.
Nic Berry, of Smyrna Beach even offered the man a bag of potato chips, bottle of water, and a ride home once he was feeling better.
The victim, identified only as Alex, was walking home from Flagler Hospital New Smyrna Beach Wednesday, where his wife was admitted when he fell into Turnbull Creek.
Berry works at an AutoZone located very close to the creek.. Berry — a recent graduate of New Smyrna High School who said he’s about to enlist in the Navy — ran the 400 meters on the high school track team and believed his conditioning helped him pull a man 80 pounds heavier than he without much difficulty.
Berry's response offered a sharp contrast to the actions of a group of teenage boys earlier this month, about 50 miles south in Cocoa.
When they heard a drowning man screaming from a retention pond they laughed, mocked him and recorded his final minutes on their cellphones.