Jodi C. Roderick helped to save Leslie L. and Helene E. Faulkner from drowning, Carver, Massachusetts, March 18, 1997. Faulkner, 62, and his wife, 71, were traveling in their automobile on a roadway atop an earthen dam when that section of the dam collapsed beneath them. Their car dropped into the deep, 10-foot-wide gap that was created initially and was pinned against debris by turbulent breach waters from East Head Pond, the adjacent reservoir. Faulkner and his wife were trapped in the car, which began to fill with water. One of the first motorists on the scene, Roderick, 37, heating and air conditioning technician, obtained a hammer, then jumped onto the submerging car’s exposed trunk and broke out the rear window before returning to the roadway. At the edge of the breach, Roderick and other men pulled Faulkner, then his wife, from the car to the roadway, with one of the other men, held by Roderick, extended into the breach to reach the victims. The turbulent rush of water continued to widen the breach, undermining the pavement from which the men acted. Faulkner and his wife required hospitalization for treatment of their injuries.
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