DETROIT (WXYZ) — The remarkable story of Detroiters coming together to help save the man who fell from the Ambassador Bridge Wednesday keeps getting more incredible.
We now know that the two Detroit women who initially saw the man falling lost their own loved one in the river years ago.
Benita Flowers told 7 Action News, "It brought back a few memories — yes, it did."
Her daughter Terri George said, "For that to happen, it resurfaced everything I thought I was over."
It was 1994 when Flowers and George say they watched their partner and father drown in the Detroit River.
Nearly 30 years later, who would have guessed that they'd help save a man out of the same waters.
"It shocked me so bad. I couldn’t believe it was happening in front of my own eyes," George said.
Flowers and George were the first people to see the man who was working on the bridge fall the 150 feet into the river Wednesday.
They caught the whole event on camera.
The women told 7 Action News it was their own traumatic experience with the river that pushed them to jump into action, immediately running next door to the J.W. Westcott boat team to tell them a man had fallen off the bridge.
Thanks to their swift action, in a matter of minutes, the man was miraculously saved.
"Once he said that he was on board, we were like ‘Yay!'" George said.
Now known publicly as heroes, these women told us that for them, the rescue was personal.
When we asked if they think the rescue brought them closure, George said, "I do. I think he has a little baby, the victim, and I was just so happy that that baby gets to experience her dad more. It’s really touching."
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