‘I thought I was going to die’: Man thanks bystander for rescuing him from crash

Click here for updates on this story

    BELLEVUE, NE (KETV) — Anton Burkovetskiy, 20, and his two friends were on the way to their band practice Saturday afternoon when their car lost control on Harlan Lewis Road in Bellevue.

“There’s a big crash, you roll over and you’re suddenly in the water,” Burkovetskiy said.

The car veered left, hitting a fire hydrant, and then flew off the road.

“What I did, I just crossed my arms and pressed myself into the front seat, and off we went,” he said.

They landed upside down in a frozen pond. Instantly, the car was full of water.

“I thought I was going to die for a second there,” Burkovetskiy said.

Terry Ingram was in the area taking photographs and heard the crash.

“I panicked when I heard the guy’s voice, ‘Get me out, it’s filling full of water,'” Ingram told KETV on Saturday.

“He was pulling from the outside and I was pushing at the door from the inside. The force of us pushing and pulling got the door open,” Burkovetskiy said.

Burkovetskiy got out first, then his two friends. He said at one point the driver, Jaxon, was unconscious.

“You got so much adrenaline. It doesn’t even feel cold,” he said.

On Tuesday, the three men finally met Ingram in a better circumstance. They had a meal with their rescuer and checked out Ingram’s Bellevue photography studio.

“It was pretty crazy. It was like meeting for the first time, because it was, pretty much,” Burkovetskiy said. “A car crash isn’t the best time to meet a person.”

Burkovetskiy said he feels lucky and grateful Ingram was there Saturday.

“Survivability on crashes like that — it’s not very likely,” he said.

His friends, Jaxon and Charlie, were in a hospital Saturday night being watched for hypothermia. Burkovetskiy said they’re feeling better.

Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.