A B.C. father is sharing the details of a terrifying crash and his rush to rescue his two young daughters from Cultus Lake.
Dennis Saulnier was out for dinner and ice cream with his two daughters on Saturday night.
The trio were driving home when a suspected drunk driver ran his truck off the road and into the lake.
As the vehicle sank and began to slowly fill with water, Saulnier recalled a segment from the TV program Mythbusters, which advised letting the water pressure inside and outside the vehicle equalize before attempting an escape.
He unbuckled the girls, but as the truck sank deeper, he realized it might get too far from the surface to make a safe getaway.
That’s when Saulnier changed track, tearing the rear-view mirror from the windshield and using it to smash out the sunroof.
“It was like 20 fire hoses. All the door seals blew in and water came in from every which direction,” he said.
The father said he felt panic set in as he lost sight of the girls in that chaotic moment.
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“I couldn’t give up. I just thought, I’ve got to search, roof, door, seat and floor — big swirls, I can’t feel them,” he said.
“Maybe they’re under the dash, but I can’t feel under the dash … I don’t want to leave, because what if I leave and they’re stuck in there?”
He surfaced for air, then dove back down to the truck but saw nothing.
Surfacing again, Saulnier filled his lungs with air for what he thought would be his last chance to get back to the sinking vehicle, when fortune struck and he spotted his two-year-old Brinley.
“I see my little girl’s ponytail just floating in the water 10 feet from me… I swam as fast as I could to her. Soon as I grab her, pull her out, she just starts crying, ‘daddy, daddy,’ just latches on to me.”
Moments later, Saulnier spotted his older daughter Keagan about 15 feet away and swam to her with Brinley.
Juggling the two girls, Saulnier managed a panicked to swim closer to shore where a passerby rushed to help.
Once on solid ground, he turned his attention to Brinley.
“We spin her over on the rocks, she coughs up a bunch of water and then she starts crying. And at that moment I knew everything was going to be fine,” he said.
In retrospect, Saulnier said the incident feels dreamlike, or a sequence from a movie.
He said he’s now sharing his story in hopes of discouraging drinking and driving, and that his experience may help to save another life.
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