Turbeville man jumps into swamp, saves wreck victim's life

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Saturday was just a regular day for Nick Floyd until he set out from a friend's house on Old Manning Road, close to Newman Branch.

Flagged down by four men standing in the highway surrounded by trash, Floyd soon learned there'd been a wreck.

One vehicle was on the side of the road.

"The other was in the swamp off the side of the bridge," Floyd said. "At first, it was on top of the water, but then it started sinking. And then we heard the man inside screaming."

Floyd made a split-second decision, removing his shirt and jumping into the water to help the man.

"We'd already called the cops; at first, when I saw him, he hadn't taken in water, but then once he started taking it on so fast, we couldn't wait for the cops," Floyd said. "I just jumped in. Water was rushing into the car. I didn't have a choice."

By the time Floyd got to the driver, 58-year-old James Edward Rhodes of New Zion, the car was completely submerged.

"I found the door handle and got the door open and then dragged him out from there," Floyd said.

Lance Cpl. David Jones with the S.C. Highway Patrol reported Monday that Rhodes was following Houlson Derrick Wells, 42, of Sumter and ran into the back of a trailer connected to Wells' 1999 Chevrolet pickup with his 1994 two-door Ford car.

"When I initially stopped, there were four guys in the road, waving and surrounded by all this trash," Floyd said. "They said they'd been carrying trash off, and that this guy hit them from behind. That's when they pointed to (Rhodes), and his car was sliding in the water."

Rhodes was charged with driving under the influence, Jones said. Officials with the Clarendon County Detention Center say Rhodes was released Sunday morning on a $997 personal recognizance bond granted by county Magistrate Shayne Stephens.

Floyd, a 2013 graduate of East Clarendon High School, said he doesn't consider his actions heroic. He said he's glad Rhodes is OK, noting the man's daughter got in touch with him Sunday to say the man was fine.

"I knew how to swim, and someone had to help him," said Floyd, who lives in Turbeville and works at Southern Granite in Lake City. "I was just coming home from a friend's house. It was just a typical weekend for me, until all this happened."