Coming down from a high.

Shortly before 11 a.m. on April 15, Kaysville, Utah, resident Wayne Olsen left for a work assignment in nearby Farmington. Driving south on a surface road paralleling the I-15 freeway, Olsen glanced to his left and was stunned to see a red pickup truck flying through the air.

The truck's driver, Cory Haws, had been traveling north in the fast lane of the freeway when he lost consciousness. Swerving left, the vehicle caromed off the concrete wall dividing the north and south freeway lanes, careened across the three northbound lanes, and crashed through a chain-link fence. It then climbed an embankment surrounding a pond at the Utah State University Botanical Center, became airborne, and landed in the pond some 75 feet from where it left the ground.

Olsen recalls that his initial reaction was disbelief. "It just wasn't natural," he told the May 3 Deseret Morning News. "I'm thinking, 'This isn't happening.'" Reality set in, however, when the truck splashed into the water. As summarized by the Morning News, "Wayne reached for his cell phone and punched 911 ," but nothing happened. A second attempt also failed. (He was unaware that his cell phone service includes a feature that prompts 911 operators to call the number back.)

Pulling to the side of the road, Olsen jumped from his vehicle, placed the cell phone and his wallet on the ground, and ran to the pond. Diving in fully clothed, he swam to the track, which had remained upright. As described by the Morning News, "When he got to the driver's window, he saw a body on the seat, motionless. The truck was sinking fast, the water rising inside the cab." He tried to open the door, but it was locked, so "he shouted to the shore, where several people had now gathered, 'The door's locked. Throw me a rock so I can break the window.' Rocks starting flying into the water." None, however, fell within reach.

Hoping that the passenger door was open, Olsen crawled across the truck, but by the time he reached the door Haws had regained consciousness, rolled down the passenger-side window, and started to squirm out the opening. After exiting the nearly submerged pickup, Haws rested for a few moments on its top before the two men swam to shore, with Olsen guiding from behind.

In the aftermath of the harrowing ordeal, Olsen was lauded as a hero by his family and fellow workers. "I never thought about the consequences," he told the Morning News. All he remembers thinking "is that I didn't want anything bad to happen to whoever was in that truck. When that kid looked at me and said he was OK, that was such a relief, I can't even tell you. That's all I wanted."

Olsen was not injured. Haws was transported by ambulance to a local hospital for treatment of his injuries, and was also cited by Utah Highway Patrol troopers for driving under the influence of a controlled substance.