Five Alliance police officers saved a woman from the icy waters of the Mahoning River Sunday night.

 

It happened around 9:30 p.m. after 24-year-old Alexus Screckengost Carver of Sebring left work and fell asleep at the wheel.

 

Police say the van went off the road and hit a guardrail before falling nearly 14 feet into the river.

 

The car became submerged in the river with the woman trapped inside.

 

Alliance officers were able to break the window of the van and pull Carver to safety.

 

"The first time I struck the window, it didn't break but it wasn't a feeling of defeat because I knew that window was going eventually," said Officer Christian Tussey who broke the window of the vehicle and pulled Carver to safety. "At the second hit, it was a full follow through to the point where the tomahawk fell out of my hand."

 

"You don't think about how cold the water is or if she might not make," said Officer Shane Tallman who assisted in the rescue. "You just do it." 

 

Tallman said if officers wouldn't have responded when they did, the minivan would have been completely underwater in a matter of minutes.

 

"If it wasn't for us getting there when we did and having the training we do, it would have been a different scenario," Tallman said. 

 

"As I took her out of the car, she said, 'I'm so sorry.' She didn't have anything to apologize about. It was an accident," Tussey said. "Once we got up to the shore, I went up to get warm and they took her to get treated by medical professionals."

 

Carver was taken to the hospital for minor injuries and was later released.

 

"You don't become a police officer to be a hero," Tallman said. "This is what we want to do and this is what we enjoy doing."

 

No officers were injured in the rescue.