Members of the San Diego Police Department saved an estimated 60 people and five dogs on Jan. 22 alone, according to Capt. Julie Epperson.
Epperson, who oversees SDPD’s southeastern division, told NBC 7 officers needed to get creative because water rescues are not something they train for.
“[They] were very innovative in that they grabbed paddleboards, they grabbed canoes, and they were literally using them just to get people out of the houses on that day because that was the best we had,” she said. “I was very proud of our officers.”
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One of those officers is Robert “Bobby” Gladysz. He was working that day and said it started off relatively normal, then “it just got progressively worse as the day went on.”
Sometime around 10 a.m., Gladysz told NBC 7 he was on patrol when he was dispatched to a call in the Southcrest neighborhood.
“On the way there, around 4100 Logan Avenue, I saw the drainage had overflowed significantly, and it resulted in several feet of running water,” he said. “I saw some people in the water, some were kind of holding onto the fence because the current looked kind of strong.”
Gladysz said, without hesitation, he pulled over and ran into the water to help.
“I knew that wasn’t something I could ignore, so I just immediately went to those people,” he said. “Initially, it was about chest-deep. There was a drop-off where it was like almost up to my neck.”
First, he managed to pull two people out of the water and to safety. Then, he helped save another man who said his dogs were stuck in a crate inside his flooded apartment.
“He had a work truck that had a pickaxe in the back, I grabbed that,” Gladysz said. “We were able to take down his door and get the dogs out, but while doing that, his neighbors, who was an older couple, was still inside the apartment, and we couldn’t get their door open due to the current.”
Gladysz broke a window instead, cleared the glass and helped the couple escape, but he wasn’t done.
“After that, there was another neighbor who was kind of yelling from his window,” he said. “I was able to get his door open with the pickaxe.”
Once that man was to safety, Gladysz cleared the final two apartments and then was able to get out of the floodwater.
“I took six people out of those apartments and four dogs,” he said.
Gladysz explained, like what Epperson said, that this is "definitely not" something that they train for in the regional police academy. He told NBC 7 that he became a police officer one year ago, but before that he spent 10 years with the U.S. Marine Corps, including a deployment to Afghanistan.
“I think it absolutely helped,” he said. “I think my experience being in the Marine Corps is just really what allowed me to act the way I did.”
During those 10 years, he spent some of it in San Diego County at Camp Pendleton. He said in the 12 years total he has been living in California, he had never seen weather like that day.
“I had no idea it would be that crazy,” he said. “I think it definitely could have ended poorly had I not pulled over.”
As for moving forward, he added one of the most important lessons he learned that day was, “sometimes you’re the only help that’s coming, and that you need to make it happen.”
