Marin sheriff's deputy gets medal for saving woman from flooded SUV

SAN RAFAEL, Calif. - A Marin County sheriff's deputy has been awarded the Medal of Valor from a statewide sheriff's association for rescuing a woman from her flooded SUV after it was swept into a swollen creek during a severe rainstorm.

 "I'm flooded in my car," the woman, Angela, told a 911 dispatcher after her first two calls dropped.

 "Ma'am, I have help started your way," the dispatcher responded.

SUV slides into rain-swollen creek

The backstory:

It started with a desperate 911 call to the sheriff's office in February 2025.  The region was inundated by a powerful rainstorm, and Angela, while on her way to work at 5 a.m., was swept off Platform Bridge Road between Point Reyes Station and Nicasio and into flooded Lagunitas Creek. She was trapped inside her small SUV, and water was rushing in.

 "I am stuck in my car, and it is flooding, and I can't get out, and I don't know what to do. Please help me. It's filling up really quick," Angela said, her voice betraying fear and anxiety.

Sheriff's Deputy Michael Dawson recalled Tuesday, "When I first got there, there was very little of the car showing."

In fact, the front end of Angela's Nissan Juke was almost completely submerged. The water was up to her ears. He used his baton to break open the back window.

Angela was still in the driver's seat, belted in, holding her cell phone — her lifeline — above the cold water.

"She had a very little pocket of air," said Dawson, a 20-year sheriff's office veteran.  "I knew that time was of the essence to get her out."

Angela didn't think she could get out.

In his body-camera video, Dawson asks her, "You think you can squeeze in there? I'll help you."

"Honestly, I don't know," Angela responds. "I've never had to try before."

‘Doom and gloom’ mind frame

What they're saying:

Dawson said Angela's mind frame was "kind of a doom-and-gloom thing, like she didn't think that — I could tell just by speaking with her, very short and there was a lot of 'I can'ts.' "

Dawson tried to reassure her.

"I needed to change her mindset, because this was going to be a team effort," he said.

And they had to move quickly.

"Pretty good current. It was moving the car, it was moving me with the car, and it was moving anything I was standing on," Dawson said. "There were a few times that were pretty sketchy."

The deputy was able to pull her through the window to safety. She was cold. Her legs collapsed.

He put her in his police truck and blasted the hot air.

He also glanced back at her SUV.

"I took a peek and you could just barely see the back of the car," he said.

Angela later sent him a card, thanking him for being there for her.

Award for deputy - he says he was doing his job

What they're saying:

Dawson recently was awarded the Medal of Valor from the California State Sheriffs Association. He said he appreciates the recognition but doesn't see himself as a hero.

"I was just doing what I was trained to do, essentially, and I'm glad I was available and put in that position and at the right place at the right time to make a difference," he said.

Angela said Tuesday, "Deputy Dawson saved my life. He deserves this award."

Henry Lee is a KTVU crime reporter. E-mail Henry at Henry.Lee@fox.com and follow him on X @henrykleeKTVU and www.facebook.com/henrykleefan

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