'I was the full idiot,' Garner man admits after pulling truck from floodwaters

Shane Wolicki drove his Dodge Ram into about 4 feet of water on Durham Drive, an area off Tryon Road south of Raleigh notorious for flooding in heavy rains.

"Long story short, I put my nose in the water, and it floated away from there," Wolicki said.

Despite warnings from Raleigh police to leave the truck there until the water levels dropped, he and about a half-dozen other men waded through the water, and together with two other pickups and several tow chains, they were able to pull the pickup from the water after about an hour of work.

"Some good people behind me came out and gave me a hand, and we got it out," Wolicki said, noting that he wanted to minimize the damage to the truck and begin the drying-out process.

Wolicki acknowledged that he made a mistake in driving into the water.

"I watch the news and see these idiots doing this kind of stuff right here, and I thought, 'Well, I won't be that idiot. I'll just sort of kind of look like that idiot instead of being the full idiot,'" he said. "I was the full idiot."

The ultimate lesson, he said, "If it ain't made for it, don't do it."