Man pulled from car after Duanesburg crash

Kenny Frederick used a hammer to smash windows and help pull an injured driver from his car early Friday morning.

Thanks to the heroic actions of passing motorists, Colin S. Lomax survived a car accident on Duanesburg Road at 5:20 a.m. Friday.

Lomax, 24, was traveling east when he suffered a seizure that caused him to lose control of the vehicle he was driving. The vehicle went off the road’s south shoulder, across the Duanesburg Fire Department parking lot and over to a grassy area where it hit some shrubbery, a monument and flagpole. The vehicle continued to move through a fence and into a pond, where it was almost entirely submerged.

A female motorist who had been driving directly behind Lomax witnessed the incident and was able to flag down an unnamed male motorist for help. Seconds later, Kenny Frederick, 53, of Delanson, arrived and ran to assist the other motorist. Thankfully, he knew exactly what to do and was able to remain calm.

“I saw this kid on the side of the road, and he was yelling that there was someone in a car under the water,” explained Frederick, “I grabbed a hammer out of my truck because I knew the water pressure would be too much to break the glass by hand, and I ran down to the pond.”

Frederick said he broke a driver-side window, and they were able to unbuckle Lomax. However, Lomax began to panic, and they were unable to pull him out.

“Then I started to panic a little. He floated to the back seat of the car, so I ran back to the shore and grabbed my hammer again. I swam out, broke the back window. I told the other guy to give him a punch to distract him, and then I was able to grab him. After that, we pulled [Lomax] to shore.” Frederick said,

“He’s really lucky we were there in time.”

Frederick said has actually been in the same situation before, which made him think to grab a hammer out of his toolbox before he ran to save Lomax. At age 18, Frederick witnessed a car drive off the road and into a nearby body of water. Unable to break the glass himself, he grabbed a large rock, smashed a window and pulled the driver to safety.

Lomax’s older brother, who worked in the past with Frederick and attended school with his daughter, heard of his brother’s brush with death and the heroes that saved him. Knowing Frederick drives that route at the same time everyday, he gave Frederick a call and discovered Frederick had indeed been the one to save his brother.

Frederick said he was driving back from Stewart’s when the incident occurred, and he happened to be driving slowly when he came upon the scene.

“That kid is just lucky there were two of us there. I wouldn’t have been able to save him all by myself,” said Frederick.

Lomax was semi-conscious when he was removed from the vehicle and was immediately taken to Ellis Hospital in Schenectady. There were no additional details available on Lomax’s condition.