A community in Sunrise, Florida, is in mourning after losing two young men on Tuesday night.
Officials had not yet revealed the names of the two teens, but classmates identified the driver, Venkata Krishnamurthy, 18, and the good Samaritan as Aden Perry, 17, according to WTVJ.
At around 10:20 p.m. Tuesday night, Krishnamurthy’s car left the road, went across a median, hit and snapped a tree, ran over the sidewalk and then plunged into the lake.
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Perry was out walking with his mother at the time and, seeing the accident, he dove into the water to try to help the driver and potential passengers. He did not come back up.
“There was some lady screaming, saying ‘My … my son, my son’s in the water, in the water!'” one witness recalled.
When Sunrise Police and first responders arrived, they had to send the dive team into the water. One bystander said it took them some time to locate Perry’s body.
“It did take them a while to find the first person they pulled out,” Daniel Welborn told WKRC-TV. “It was like 15 or 20 minutes. It didn’t seem very promising.
“They did some chest compressions for 15 seconds. Then stopped. Put him on a stretcher, put him in an ambulance, not with undue haste.”
Perry was taken to the Broward Health Medical Center, where he passed away.
Police said that the 18-year-old’s body was removed from the car, and that he appeared to be the only one in the car at the time.
Neighbors on the street said that the road is poorly lit. Police say they have not determined whether or not the teen in this case had been speeding, but they did say he was unfamiliar with the area.
According to WSVN, Krishnamurthy had been driving to get food at Taco Bell after a basketball game. He got lost and was on his phone trying to get directions when he went off the road and into the lake.
Friends are remembering the heroic Perry as a “great kid” and star pupil at Western High School. When the news of his death and the surrounding circumstances was announced Wednesday morning, his classmates shared their sentiments.
“It was a selfless act,” student Coral Funes said. “Throwing yourself in there, trying your hardest, and it’s so sad what happened to him, but it’s, it’s beautiful what he did. It hit me because a lot of my friends are 17 and you think about losing them.”
“It’s very sad and a tragic thing,” an anonymous student added.
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“I think this was very brave of him,” student Juan Chavarrio said.
“It’s just unfortunate, who knows what happened when he went in there to try to open the door, maybe he got caught up in it,” said Gary Grove, who lives in the neighborhood where the accident occurred.
“It’s very sad, very brave act to do something like that. It’s sad to lose your life over that. My condolences to the family.”
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Following the horrible accident, Alan Perry posted on Facebook on his and his wife’s behalf.
“Our beautiful son,” he wrote, sharing a screenshot of an article. “We are devastated but so proud of him giving his life to try and save a total stranger.”
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
