Heroism then a hot shower: Durham officer recounts icy water rescue

Durham Cpl. J.J. Barazandeh arrived at the creek in the 2600 block of Dearborn Drive just after 1 p.m. Wednesday, removed his duty belt and jumped into the creek to guide the women, floating on their stomachs, to the shore.

"As I was approaching, I happened to see too sets of hands waving down a deep embankment," Barazandeh said.

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Barazandeh said the women were screaming for help when he arrived.

"I told the first lady, 'Let go of the door and grab onto me,'" he said. "Once I realized how soft the bottom was, I realized that trying to walk her to the shoreline was not possible ... so, I told her to get onto her stomach and try to float as I pushed her."

Two passing drivers who saw the scene also stopped to help pull the women and Barazandeh to safety, police said.

"Once they got a hold of her, I went back for the other lady," Barazandeh said.

In a 911 call released Friday, a woman can be heard frantically begging a dispatcher for help.

"You just have to come down. We’re in the creek. We’re in the water. We’re submerged in the water," the 31-year-old woman told the dispatcher.

She and her 64-year-old mother were clinging to a door of the car, which was submerged in the frigid water.

"We’re standing on top of the car, and we’re still about waist deep. We’re standing on the doorway, on the side, on the door jamb," she said.

The dispatcher tried to keep the woman calm as police and paramedics headed to the scene, but the woman and her mother could be heard screaming and crying at various points during the call.

"We’re just freezing. I can’t feel my legs, it’s so cold," the woman said. "Are they anywhere near?"

The call abruptly ends shortly after the woman tells the dispatcher that her phone battery is about to die.

The women were treated by paramedics, and police said Barazandeh took a hot shower before returning to work.

Durham Police Chief C.J. Davis said she's not surprised to hear about Barazandeh's heroic actions.

"There is a laundry list- jumped in the water, talked someone off a bridge, done something compassionate for that. They don't think about self," she said.