CLINTON TOWNSHIP, Mich. – Joy Alexander said she remembers the day when she almost died in Clinton Township, where she was trapped in flood water.
On June 26, she was leaving her sister’s home when it happened.
The officers who rescued her were honored for their bravery.
Related: Video captures Clinton Township police rescuing 82-year-old woman trapped in submerged vehicle
“It was terrifying. I couldn’t get the door open. I was afraid because I can’t swim,” Alexander said. “There was no water on the road, anywhere until I got to a puddle of water and I pumped the brakes gently ... All of a sudden, something grabbed the wheel of the car and I started sailing across the street into somebody’s back yard.
“I was in it for several minutes. I was swallowing water when the police officers got to me.”
Clinton Township Police Department officers Ryan Dittmer, Gino Bolone and Michael Pfeiffer were rewarded and honored for saving Alexander from her car.
“When we got there, the first thing we’d seen was the vehicle. There was probably an inch or two at the top of the vehicle, sticking out of the water,” Pfeiffer said.
“I grabbed her shirt sleeve and when we took her out of the car, she was completely underwater,” Bolone said.
“We were able to help her so she can get out and see her granddaughter again,” said Dittmer.
Alexander calls the officers her heroes and guardian angels.
“I knew they wouldn’t leave me there,” she said.
More: Macomb County news