Arizona sheriff's helicopter crew rescues man stranded atop overturned truck in rapidly rising floodwaters

Helicopter crews pull stranded truck driver to safety amid Maricopa County floods

Maricopa County, Arizona – In the early hours of Tuesday, a Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office Fox 1 aviation crew flew into the wake of a sudden flood in the Tonopah wash and performed a dramatic hoist rescue that saved a truck driver stuck on top of his overturned vehicle.

The crew arrived at the scene where the driver was perched beside a collapsed pickup, water surging past the open windows of the wreck. “We didn’t waste much time,” said helicopter pilot Rich Dickner to CBS News. “As opposed to when we first got there, you can see the water line on the video — it's below the window — and it had risen up to the top of the window,” he explained, adding, “So there was that urgency.”

Because the water was rising so quickly, the responders judged a direct approach from the ground too dangerous. Instead, they employed a hoist. Deputy Lindsey Smith was lowered roughly 80 feet from the helicopter, struggling to secure herself to the vehicle before fastening a rescue harness around the driver. The entire operation—from the crew’s descent to the driver’s extraction and ascent—was completed in less than five minutes, according to the Sheriff’s Office.

Fire personnel waited at the riverbank, ready to receive the rescued man once he was off the vehicle. “Thanks to the skill and quick response of our Aviation crew, the subject was safely brought to shore,” the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement. “Excellent work, Fox 1!”

The flood that brought the truck to a halt was a product of heavy rains that followed the remnants of Hurricane Polo, which dumped historic amounts of precipitation across the Southwest. The Weather Channel reported that the rainfall led to “dangerous flash flooding” in the region. In response, the Flood Control District of Maricopa County issued a warning urging motorists to heed the “Turn Around, Don’t Drown” advisory and to avoid crossing flooded roads.

The video of the rescue, released by the sheriff’s office, shows the driver perched on the overturned truck as muddy water rushes past him, and the helicopter crew’s swift maneuver to bring him to safety. The footage has drawn attention not only for its dramatic choreography but also as a stark reminder of how quickly conditions can change in flash‑flood situations.