Deputy’s dramatic rescue of Florida Panhandle flooding victim captured on body cam

A Florida sheriff’s deputy is being praised for his “exceptional courage” after rescuing a victim trapped in flood waters when both he and the victim were sucked into a drainage pipe before emerging on the other side of the highway.

“I almost died,” the man rescued by Escambia County Sheriff’s Deputy William Hollingsworth says shortly after their ordeal early Friday morning on U.S. 98, which was captured on Hollingsworth’s body camera.

On Friday afternoon, the sheriff’s office released Hollingworth’s body cam.

The sheriff’s deputy exited his patrol vehicle to approach the citizen, who was trapped in rising flood waters.

Hollingsworth then saw the man go underwater when he rushed to the victim’s aid “without regard for his own safety,” the sheriff’s office said.

During the rescue attempt, both men were sucked into a drainage pipe and swept underneath U.S. Highway 98.

“I never held my breath like that in my life,” Hollingsworth says in the footage.

After traveling nearly 100 feet underwater, they reemerged about 30 second later on the other side of the highway.

The sheriff’s office hailed Hollingsworth’s rescue as “an example of the exceptional courage displayed by the men and women of law enforcement every day.”

The storms that hit the panhandle included two tornadoes in the area that left one person killed. Another person was also struck by lightning.