Off-duty lieutenant saves woman from sinking car

Lieutenant Nelson Andreu Jr., his family and several friends were on vacation in Fort Pierce when Andreu rescued an elderly woman from a car submerged in a murky lake along a golf course. For his quick actions, Lieutenant Andreu was awarded the Miami-Dade Police Department's (MDPD) Distinguished Officer of the Year Award and the Silver Medal of Valor, the department’s second-highest award. He has been with MDPD for 24 years and currently serves in the Police Officer Service Training Unit at the Miami-Dade Public Safety Training Institute & Research Center.

On the golf course with his son and a friend, Andreu was on the third putting green holding the flagstick. His son was preparing to putt, but abruptly dropped his putter and ran towards his father with a shocked expression. He pointed to a lake approximately 150 yards in the background where a dark-colored SUV had just plunged into the water.

Andreu ran towards the lake and observed that the two front windows of the sinking vehicle were down, but the two rear windows were up. An elderly woman was in the driver’s seat, and there was no one in the other seat. Calling 911, he told the dispatcher what was happening, gave the location, the license plate number of the vehicle and indicated he was going in.

In the lake, he approached the vehicle and told the woman to move over to the passenger’s side so he could pull her out of that window. “She looked at me as if I wasn’t there,” Andreu said. 

He swam over the hood of the vehicle, got to the driver’s side and pulled her out as water was gushing in. Once free of the vehicle, he instructed her to kick her feet. Holding onto her shirt, Andreu pulled her to safety. She was disoriented but confirmed she was alone in the car.

Unfortunately, an elderly man who witnessed the commotion had gone into the water and was attempting to get to the submerged SUV. Andreu returned to the water and assisted him in getting back to shore. Once safe, they watched the vehicle sink below the surface.

He checked the woman’s vital signs and about five minutes later, emergency crews arrived.

“I decided we were done playing golf,” he joked. His son gave him a high-five and the three walked back home. Several hours later, there was a knock at the door. It was the elderly woman who Andreu saved.

“She was crying, and told me that I was her hero,” he said. “I didn’t do it for any kind of award or recognition. I did it because she needed help. I think God put me in the right place at the right time. Had we hit better shots and moved along quicker, we definitely would not have been there to see it. Everything happens for a reason.”