'I can't watch this guy drown in front of me'

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CHAMPAIGN — An hour after saving a man's life, Nick Bokszczanin was on to practical things: laundry and a new phone.

The laundry, at least, was free; Country Squire Cleaners didn't charge him after they heard his story.

Bokszczanin was on his way to Champaign from Mahomet after finishing work for his mowing business Tuesday afternoon when he saw a truck partially submerged in a pond off Interstate 57 near Boulder Ridge Drive.

He knew right away that something wasn't right.

Bokszczanin went past the overpass, turned his truck and trailer around, parked and ran around the lake to reach the Chevy in the water.

Illinois State Police said the vehicle was in the water as a result of Joseph Henson, 39, of Sadorus having experienced an unidentified medical emergency that caused him to veer right off I-57, through the grass-covered ditch and boundary fence and into the pond.

Bokszczanin never learned Henson's name but saw that the man in the vehicle seemed "out of it" and that the back cab window was broken.

"When I got closer toward the shore, I saw that there was a gentleman inside the driver's-side seat," Bokszczanin said. "I'm yelling, 'Hey, get out of the vehicle!'"

Henson rolled down the driver's window.

Water rushed in, and Bokszczanin realized the truck was sinking even farther down.

"I can't watch this guy drown in front of me. I've got to get him out," Bokszczanin said.

He jumped into the lake and began trying to find the lock on the door.

The lock was toward the top, not where Bokszczanin expected, so it took a while to get it open.

"At that point, he's already gurgling water, it's that far into the water," Bokszczanin said. "If it was 10 more seconds, he would've been underwater."

He pulled the man out and swam for shore; they were too far out for even 6-foot-6 Bokszczanin to touch the bottom of the lake.

Bokszczanin described Henson as being about his size, maybe a little shorter, and not easy to drag out of the water.

They made it to the edge and Bokszczanin went to call 911, but his phone was completely waterlogged.

"I ended up running up to the houses up there and started banging on all the doors to try to get somebody to call," Bokszczanin said.

Eventually, he found someone outside and called the fire department before running back down to the lake.

"At that point, I was so out of breath and tired, I just dropped to the ground," Bokszczanin said. "The guy actually got up and started walking towards me. When he got close to me, he ended up sitting down and just laying down right next to me."

That's when the Champaign Fire Department, as well as state troopers and Champaign police arrived on the scene.

After speaking to the police and leaving the scene in search of a new phone and clean clothes, Bokszczanin still hadn't learned the man's name or anything about him.

They never had a chance to say anything to each other.

State Trooper Jayme Bufford shared that Henson was taken to the hospital for treatment for the medical event that caused him to drive him off the road, not for any injuries incurred afterward.

"It's miraculous that I'd seen the vehicle in the water out of the corner of my eye," Bokszczanin said.