Body camera footage shows officers rescuing woman and young child as water quickly rises around van

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IDAHO FALLS — As rain poured down Tuesday night and water rapidly rose under the D Street underpass, two Idaho Falls police officers came to the rescue of a woman and her young child inside a van.

The officers were called to the underpass around 7 p.m. for a report of two vehicles stuck and submerged in flood waters, according to an Idaho Falls Police Department Facebook post. When they arrived, occupants inside the cars had gotten out safely.

“As officers started to get cones out to block the roadway, a third vehicle attempted to enter the underpass,” the Facebook post says. “Officers Rosales and Hendry quickly went into the water and helped the driver and a child safely exit the vehicle.”

Body camera footage released by the department shows the officers telling the woman to take off her seatbelt and get out of the van as a child can be heard crying. Rosales and Hendry help the woman walk out of the rising waters before carrying the young child to safety.

“Within two minutes of the van entering the water, it was floating and filled at least half full with water as seen at the end of this video,” the Facebook post says. “Thank you to kind community members who did their best to help occupants of several vehicles around the community that got stuck in floodwaters during last night’s storm. Thank you to our officers who were out working, responding to calls like this along with criminal incidents, through this weather.”

Rosales, the main officer you see on camera, just graduated from POST and began working at the Idaho Falls Police Department this month. Hendry is his training officer.

Watch the video in the player above.