A high school student in Texas saved a woman and her toddler trapped in Imelda floodwaters, according to reports.
It happened on Thursday, Sept. 19 when Aldine High School junior Jordan Payne was walking with his mother back to their car after she had picked him up early because of Tropical Storm Imelda. Payne’s mother parked far away from the campus to avoid getting stuck in floodwaters, reported the Houston Chronicle.
As they were walking back toward their car, they saw an SUV near the school drive into a flooded ditch, becoming trapped underneath approximately 15 feet of water, reported CBS.
That’s when Payne and two others rushed to the vehicle to help.
“I hurried up, threw my jacket off, I threw my shirt off. I ran over there across in front of all the cars,” Payne said. “I didn’t care if all the cars stopped or not because I was more worried about [the mother and her child’s] safety than my safety.”
When the woman opened the car’s door, Payne saw her head and a toddler’s head peep out of the water. The teenager grabbed them and pulled the family out of the vehicle and through the strong currents with the help of two men, reported the Houston Chronicle.
The woman and young daughter, who were not identified, were spitting up water when they came to the surface.
“I put her on the side of the grass and she put her baby on the grass,” the Houston teen told the newspaper.
“She was crying. She said ‘You’re my guardian angel,'” Payne said, referring to the mother.
Mustang football player Jayden Payne jumped into the water to help save a woman and her toddler when the car they were in went into the ditch running beside Aldine HS. Great job Jayden…and the 2 other men who risked their lives to help another! @AldineHS_AISD @AldineISD pic.twitter.com/dyCWoCsx7l
— @GungHoMustangs (@gunghomustangs) September 19, 2019
Our Mustangs are #AldineProud and #MustangStrong. Thank you Jayden, for doing what is R.I.G.H.T! #WeAreAldine https://t.co/MWZQaloGts
— Aldine Senior High School-Aldine ISD (@AldineHS_AISD) September 20, 2019
Payne is a junior tight end and linebacker at Aldine and his actions were applauded by his high school football team’s coach, Hank Semler, who took to Twitter to praise the teen.
“Great job Jayden…and the 2 other men who risked their lives to help another!,” Semler wrote on Twitter.
“To risk your own life to save people that you don’t know—he didn’t know that lady and her child. He just saw fellow people that needed help and he just immediately sprung into action,” the Mustangs coach added to the Houston Chronicle.
Aldine High School also praised the student, writing on Twitter: “Our Mustangs are #AldineProud and #MustangStrong,” the Houston school wrote, adding, “Thank you Jayden, for doing what is R.I.G.H.T! #WeAreAldine”
Payne was just happy he was able to help the family.
“I feel like I did something great. I had to make sure two of God’s children didn’t die at an early age,” he told the Chronicle.
