Hero football coach saves woman stuck in floodwaters

ARLINGTON, Texas - Weekend flooding had one North Texas football coach playing the role of rescuer. Part of that rescue was caught on camera.

Danny DeArman is the head football coach at Arlington Bowie High School. He said when he saw a woman trapped in floodwaters Saturday night he simply had to try to save her.

DeArman and his wife, Sara, had been driving on Highway 30 outside Caddo Mills. He noticed a driver on the service road who seemed to be in trouble. She was inside a car that was starting to tip down.

“It was that point where either I jumped in to help or I watch somebody pass away. And so as soon as I saw her palm hit the window and she started motioning in panic, I knew it was go time. And so I jumped in the water and did everything I could to get her to safety,” he said.

His wife recorded some of what happened on her cellphone. But what the video doesn’t show is that the water was so deep and the current was so strong it literally pulled his shoes off.

Eventually, DeArman and another driver were able to reach the woman’s car. The other driver broke her window and the coach pulled her out. He carried her on his back to safety.

“I know she had on heels when I pulled her out of the car. With the current as strong as it was, I didn’t think she could stand there much longer. So I grabbed her, put her on my back and walked her up to dry ground. The whole time I was walking her she just kept saying, ‘God bless you. God bless you,’” he said.

The coach said the woman was extremely grateful. But after the rescue, they went their separate ways. He didn’t think to ask her name.

A friend posted the video on social media and it’s now getting a lot of attention. DeArman hopes that with all the attention he’ll be able to reconnect with the woman.