Officers rescue woman in wheelchair from floodwaters

ATLANTA — Three Atlanta police officers say they were just doing their jobs when they rescued a woman in a wheelchair from rising water.

"I wouldn't call us heroes. We were just doing our duty,” Officer Travis Gray told Channel 2 Action News.

Body-camera video shows the high water the officers had to wade through to get to the Buckhead home on Mountain Way on Tuesday.

It was around four feet deep and rising from a nearby raging creek after heavy downpours moved through the area.

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Neighbors told the three officers that a woman in a wheelchair needed help.

"That's what we get called to do and we respond and do it,” Gray said.

Before the officers could get to the woman, they had to shut off the power.

Once inside, they realized the challenge facing them.

"She was just trapped by the water,” Officer Abraham Arias said. “Time was against us.”

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"I can't really say stressful because we're mainly just thinking about her, trying to get her out,” Officer Elton Alexander said.

They quickly wrapped the woman in life vests but they knew they couldn't just carry her out because the water was too deep.

"Lifting her up was not an option,” Arias said.

Thinking fast, the officers called-in a floatation device from the Sandy Springs Fire Department.

As they moved her from the wheelchair and carried her to safety, she got her first look at what was happening outside.

"She was surprised that there was so much water around her home,” Arias said.

Once on dry land, the officers say they realized this could have ended much worse.

"At the end of the day, she's our main concern,” Alexander said.

Cox Media Group