A trucker has been awarded a medal of valor and given the key to the city for rescuing an elderly woman after her car went careening into a creek earlier this month.

The rescue happened on August 1 st on Highway 80 in Demopolis, Alabama.

According to the Demopolis Times, trucker Barry Williams was driving on Highway 80 at about 1:48 p.m. when another semi truck passed him on the left.  The truck successfully passed Williams but, as it was returning to the right lane, the truck struck the bumper of 68-year-old Octavia Wagstaff’s car.

“He cleared me and came straight over and hit her bumper,” Williams recalled. “She missed the guardrail, went airborne and twisted around into the water.”

After witnessing the accident, Williams stopped his rig and hurried to the bridge.

“I remember standing there a second to see if she was going to come up,” Williams said. “It looked like she was taking her last breath.”

“I decided it was either running back around to the other side of the bridge or jumping in. I jumped over the ledge…I wasn’t scared of the water because I knew how to swim,” Williams continued.

“If he had had to go around the side of the bridge and come down, she’d have never made it, so he jumped over,” said Robert Wagstaff, the victim’s brother.

Williams reached the car and forced the door open with his feet. He then grabbed Wagstaff and tried to pull her to the surface. Wagstaff was secured by her seatbelt, so Williams had to return to the surface for air before diving back in. He then unbuckled her seatbelt and pulled the elderly woman to the bank of the creek with the help of another bystander.

“She was a little unconscious but came to. We just kept talking to her,” Williams explained.

Wagstaff was taken to a nearby hospital with three deep lacerations, two broken ribs, a broken sternum, a right ankle injury, and an eye infection. She is still recovering from her injuries.

“He called me [afterwards]. I guess he was still freaked out. He acted like it didn’t happen for a while. I guess it took a while for him to process what had happened,” said Kala, Williams’ wife.

“The biggest thing he said was, ‘I didn’t get my load. I missed my load.’”

“I just went back like it was a normal day. It was all in a day’s work,” said Williams.

On Thursday, August 17th, at a Demopolis City Council meeting, Police Chief Tommie Reese gave Williams the first ever Medal of Valor presented by the department. Williams also received a Key to the City from Mayor John Laney.

“Today, people want to take their phones and video things, but Mr. Williams took action. He is a hero. He jumped into the water, putting his own life in danger, to save another life,” said Mayor Laney.

“We are forever indebted to Mr. Williams,” said the victim’s brother.

“Being out there on the highway, I see a lot of stuff and it’s scary. I just take it day by day,” Williams added.

Williams is a Cemex contractor and owner-operator of New Line Transport.