How firefighters jumped into action to help man who crashed truck off Caloosahatchee Bridge

A truck speeds onto the Caloosahatchee Bridge and then bumps into another truck, causing the speeding truck to fly over the railing right into the water on Saturday.

Fort Myers police say the driver of the truck died at the hospital on Monday. He has been identified as 40-year-old Thomas Gorman. First responders worked quickly to pull the man out of the water in an effort to save his life.

Police say speed was a factor in the crash. Despite that, police say no one will be charged because they say nothing criminal happened in this crash.

It only takes seconds for a life to change forever.

“We hope he makes it, but you know, that’s that’s really what we’re here for is to give that person a shot,” said Fort Myers Fire Captain Oliver Castellanos.

It only took minutes for firefighters to take action.

“Firefighter Alvarez was able to go ahead and descend and was on top of the vehicle,” said Castellanos.

Castellanos is referring to firefighter Gianni Alvarez, who slid down a fire hose to get to the submerged truck while Castellanos remained on the bridge to communicate with rescuers in the water.

“Rope takes time. You have to tie it off. You have to make a harness, you know, just pulling a hose line and dropping it in the water and charging it could use it as a fire pole,” Castellanos said.

It’s a practice Castellanos learned after a car was hanging off the Midpoint Bridge.

“That vehicle stayed on the bridge, but we had, you know, spoke about it afterward. What would we do if that car did go off the bridge? Somebody had brought up the idea of charging the hose line,” said Castellanos.

The idea hoped to help in a situation like this, so someone has the best shot at life. “Our job is to is to give that person a fighting chance,” Castellanos said.

Firefighters suggest keeping a tool in your car to help you break a window in case you are ever in a life-threatening situation where your car is underwater.