ALBANY, Ga. — Jay Juarez didn’t think twice when he saw someone who needed his help.
The 20-year-old was in the parking lot near the Oglethorpe Bridge in Albany, Georgia, this past weekend when he noticed a crowd of people with their cellphones out, recording something in the Flint River.
When he realized that someone had just jumped into the river from the bridge, he immediately went into action.
“I was looking to see if I could see somebody, and I saw someone face up in the water floating,” Juarez told WFXL-TV’s Typhani Gray. “She seemed to be unconscious.”
Juarez went into the water to save the woman, while fighting the heavy currents of the river.
He was able to get hold of her, get a grip on a tree branch and hold the woman against a tree.
“I kept holding her, keeping her braced up against the tree trying to make sure she’s staying up," Juarez said.
Once out of the water, Juarez was taken to the hospital to be treated for hypothermia. He was later released.
Juarez said he doesn’t consider himself a hero.
“She just had a rough time and she just felt like giving up at that point,” Juarez said.