Man rescued after car crashes into Lehigh canal

LEHIGH ACRES, Fla.- A man says he’s thankful to be alive after plunging his car into a Lehigh Acres canal Monday night and being saved by a good Samaritan.

“I did not want to go down in that car because who knows who, or when, or if anybody would’ve found me if the other family wasn’t out there,” said Dylan Fankhouser.

Fankhouser has stitches on his lip and bruises on his head but he’s glad he was able to come home to his family.

“I must have taken a wrong turn and didn’t know the neighborhood I was in. Was coming up to a sharp, didn’t notice that there was a canal in front of it, hit the brakes, I had no response.”

The car went straight into the canal on the corner of Ann Avenue and 32nd Street West, trapping Fankhouser inside as it sunk further into the water.

“It started to go down further so I got in myself and I was trying to get the door open, yanking and yanking and it wouldn’t come open.”

In a matter of seconds, Fankhouser heard a splash. Jason Dixon, a neighbor who happened to be outside at the time, rushed in to help while yelling for his son to call 911.

“I hit the window and I must have hit it at a good time, it smashed,” said Dixon. “We came back on land and yeah, he was alright. He was a little shook up, but he was alright.”

Dixon says the timing was amazing. He says he was only planning on staying outside with his kids for a little bit longer when the car came barreling down the road.

“‘Let’s stay out here five minutes,’ five more minutes kinda talk, that’s all it was. I literally said, ‘alright, five more minutes,'” said Dixon.

“I don’t know if anyone would’ve been able to hear or notice if they weren’t outside,” said Fankhouser.