Tennessee Hero Smashes Window, Rescues Woman from Submerged Car
Troy Plemons, a 22-year-old utility worker from Tennessee, became a local hero when he rescued a woman trapped in her SUV during severe flooding on Interstate 24 near Chattanooga. While heading to get supplies, Plemons noticed the vehicle beginning to float and quickly acted, smashing the SUV’s window with a rock to free the trapped driver as floodwaters rapidly rose. Witnesses described the intense and emotional rescue,with the woman crying and others shaken by the dangerous situation. The flooding in Chattanooga led to at least three deaths and ongoing rescue efforts, highlighting the severe impact of the sudden heavy rains and flash floods in the area.
The water was coming down hard, but Tennessee hero Troy Plemons kept going harder, until he finally rescued a woman whose car was trapped when flooding hit the Chattanooga highway she had been driving on.
Plemons, an employee of the utility EPB, had been on his way to get supplies when, as he hit Interstate 24, he said he watched a vehicle “starting to float,” according to WRCB-TV.
Plemons, 22, said he and some employees of Lawson Electric saw the situation developing.
This hero used a rock to smash the window of an SUV to save a driver from rising floodwaters near Chattanooga, Tennessee. pic.twitter.com/udWpKAqmpx
— Fox News (@FoxNews) August 15, 2025
“We could see the fear on her face. She couldn’t roll down her window, couldn’t open her door, and we could see her trying,” Plemons said, according to the Chattanooga Times Free Press.
“And then once her car kind of stopped, it just started sinking, and the water was rising as it was sinking,” he continued.
“It was like the water never stopped, so we could just see it rushing in, the current was still strong, and then it crossed all the lanes,” Plemons said.
Video showed Plemons smashing a window of the woman’s SUV to get her out of the vehicle. He then carried her to safety.
“She cried the whole time, which everybody was crying, it was really sad,” he said. “Everybody’s losing all their belongings… I think that really stood out to me the most with how sad everybody was, and you know, there wasn’t nothing you could really do, but just help them get out of the water.”
Anderson Stout, 29, was also trapped and videoed Plemons as he helped the woman, whose name is not known.
“I’d say he swam 15 or 20 feet out there and grabbed a rock and broke her window and pulled her out,” Stout said. “And I’m not gonna lie, it did not take two or three minutes before her windows were completely underwater.”
Stout said there were people watching the rescue.
“I think everyone took a deep breath and a giant gasp after they saw him pull her out,” Stout said. “It was definitely one of those moments where, after it happened, I looked down and my knees were shaking. It was intense.”
“I really, honestly think that he saved her life,” he said, adding, “I think if he wouldn’t have gone out there and grabbed her, it might’ve been really bad.”
At least three people died after heavy rain and flash floods hit Chattanooga on Tuesday, according to NBC.
A family of two adults and their child died after a toppled tree landed on their car, according to the Hamilton County Office of Emergency Management and Homeland Security.
One man was listed as missing after rescuers were unable to reach him and saw him swept away by floodwaters.
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