Good Samaritan jumps into action and rescues elderly man being swept away in floodwaters

LAS VEGAS (KVVU/Gray News) - An elderly man is safe after a stranger rescued him from fast-moving floodwaters over the weekend in Las Vegas.

According to Vegas resident Arturo Castrejon, he was driving with his friend in a neighborhood on the east side of town last Saturday when they noticed the man being swept away in the water.

“We turned around and saw this guy in brown clothes covered in water and mud,” Castrejon said. “It was hard to see him.”

And that’s when Castrejon jumped out of his truck’s window to save him.

“I didn’t even think twice. I knew I had to do something to save him,” Castrejon said.

Video of the rescue shared on social media shows Castrejon carrying the man across the street and into a nearby house.

“He was just telling me to not let him go, and I grabbed him,” Castrejon said. “When I carried him, he started crying.”

The good Samaritan said he didn’t know how to swim but knew it was the right thing to do.

“Maybe we both could’ve died, but I was feeling comfortable with myself,” Castrejon said.

Heavy rain and thunderstorms moved through Southern Nevada last week, causing many streets to flood with swift water rescues and multiple cars stuck in the rising waters.

Copyright 2023 KVVU via Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved.