El Portal officer saves woman whose car plunged into canal

An off-duty police officer jumped into the water to save a woman whose car plunged into a canal on Tuesday evening.

El Portal Police Officer Angel Lopez was on his way home from work when he saw the car go into the water, according to Miami-Dade police.

Three cars were involved in a crash that sent Sabrina Anderson’s car into the canal, police said.

“The lady’s car ricocheted off my car, and it made my car go over into the water,” Anderson told WSVN-Fox 7.

“I’m OK. I’m going to be all right.”

Lopez called MiamiDade Fire Rescue for help before jumping into the water, authorities said.

“He went sliding down the embankment (and) he was able to get to the woman,” El Portal Police Chief David Magnusson told WPLG-ABC 10.

“The window was open, fortunately, and he pulled her out through the window.”

With the help of rescue crews, Lopez and the woman made it safely back to shore.

Anderson said she’s thankful to Lopez and the fire-rescue crew. Lopez’s boss was also extremely proud.

“Officer Lopez is a man of few words so to speak, but I can tell you in our conversation he was very proud, very happy,” the chief said.