(Rahway-WABC, November 25, 2003) -- It was definitely the road less traveled, as a New Jersey woman's morning commute took a dangerous detour -- right into the Rahway River. It happened on Hazelwood Avenue when a highway accident sent a woman and her car flying into the river.
But one man was brave enough to jump in and brave the freezing water, and he saved her life.
Jen Maxfield joins us from Rahway, where the river met the road.
Sade Babalola, Accident Victim: "Thank you so much! You saved my life!"
An emotional moment between the woman who almost drowned, and her hero.
William Thomas, Hero: "I couldn't believe that it happened, and I'm in shock myself. I'm just glad everything turned out the way it did."
Thomas was on his way to work at 7:00 this morning, when his wife noticed a car in the Rahway River. Thomas ran to the bank of the river, and saw a woman fighting to get free of the sinking car.
William Thomas: "She was stuck inside, she couldn't really move, that's why her head was bobbing up and down, she was trying to gasp for air."
Thomas took off his red hat and leather jacket and jumped into the frigid water.
"I just knew that she needed help, and I just dove in without thinking a second chance. And by the grace of God I just made it there and back."
Thomas dragged Sade Babalola out, and after spending several hours at a hospital being treated for hypothermia, she is on her way home with her brother.
Akintunde Akinbo, Victim's Brother: "He's not just an ordinary person, he's an angel. This guy is an angel that God has sent to her."
By a strange coincidence, Thomas and Babilola were both headed to work at the same place, the Woodsbridge Developmental Center, though they had never met before today.
Her car was still in the river as of noon, and police divers were trying to get it out.
