MANCHESTER, New Jersey — Two Manchester Township police officers pulled an 86-year-old driver from a car that was sinking in a golf-course pond, using a rescue throw bag and skills one of the officers developed during a decade as a lifeguard.
News 12 reported Sept. 22 that Officers Sean Rembach and Donald “Don” Miller were handling another call when radio traffic alerted them to a vehicle in a lake with one person unable to get out as the car slowly sank.
The officers raced to the gated Renaissance community in Manchester, where Rembach said they found the driver on top of the partially submerged car, holding onto a front pillar and calling for help.
One officer entered the water; the other worked the rope
Rembach removed his ballistic vest and gun belt before entering the pond and swimming to the driver, according to the television report. Body-camera video described by News 12 recorded his approach.
Miller stayed on shore and deployed a water-rescue throw bag. He told News 12 that he had worked as a lifeguard at Jenkinson’s for 10 years and had practiced that type of line pull before. The throw reached Rembach, who was with the driver, and Miller hauled both men toward shore.
Rembach later praised the placement of the throw, saying the line landed in his hand. He described how quickly the pull moved him and the driver away from the sinking vehicle.
Shore News Network reported Sept. 21 that police were dispatched at about 4:52 a.m. Sunday to the area of Halstead Drive and Esplanade Drive. The report said the black 2024 Nissan Altima became fully submerged after the rescue.
Police said a mistaken pedal press sent the car into the pond
According to both reports, police said the driver had been attempting a K-turn when he pressed the accelerator instead of the brake while putting the vehicle in reverse. The car traveled over an embankment and into the water hazard.
Neighbors who heard or saw the emergency called 911 quickly. Rembach credited that prompt call with helping officers reach the driver while he could still stay above the water.
Manchester EMS evaluated the driver at the scene. The local reports differed slightly on the injury description: News 12 said the driver was uninjured, while Shore News Network reported treatment for a minor injury. ThinBlueNews is not resolving that discrepancy beyond the published accounts and is withholding the driver’s name as unnecessary to understanding the rescue.
The Ridgeway Volunteer Fire Company and the Whiting Fire Water Rescue and Recovery Team also responded, Shore News Network reported. The coordinated response included law enforcement, emergency medical personnel, firefighters and water-rescue specialists.
Training connected the driver to shore
The rescue paired two distinct tasks under pressure: Rembach stripped away equipment that could weigh him down and entered the water, while Miller stayed on stable ground and put a practiced rescue line where his partner could reach it.
That division of work mattered as the car continued sinking. The driver was out before the vehicle disappeared beneath the surface, and the rope gave Miller a way to move both men toward safety without adding another person to the water.
Police work frequently requires officers to make rapid decisions before specialized rescue teams can arrive. In Manchester, the officers’ response — backed by an alert neighborhood and additional first responders — turned a pre-dawn call about a sinking car into a successful rescue.
This story is part of ThinBlueNews’s coverage of police rescue news and positive police news involving civilian law-enforcement agencies.
Editorial note: ThinBlueNews checked its complete local article index and found no prior report about this rescue. News 12 displayed rescue/body-camera imagery, but no republication license, permission record or public-domain basis for ThinBlueNews was established, so those pixels were not copied. The featured image is original, photo-independent symbolic artwork and does not depict the officers, driver, vehicle, pond, throw bag used in the incident or rescue.