Robert Jaggers:  

Life A flood of heroism as the water rushed in Passers-by brave drainage ditch, pull couple from partially submerged car By Eric Peterson Daily Herald Staff Writer Posted Wednesday, July 20, 2005 Buckled into his upside-down car, his head trapped below the muddy water of the drainage ditch, Tanmoy Guha was certain the end had come for him and his wife beside him. Robert Jaggers, meanwhile, would happily have lived his whole life never facing a life-or-death decision. But because of the quick action of Jaggers and others, 30-year-old Guha and his 29-year-old wife Puja Roy are alive and unharmed to enjoy the rest of the summer, the year and their lives together. At 6:30 p.m. July 8, the Schaumburg couple were in their Toyota Corolla on their way home, heading west on Golf Road and waiting to turn left onto Knollwood Drive. As the light went yellow, Guha turned in front of an oncoming van, police said. The Toyota was broad-sided, spinning toward the southeast corner and then flipping over — into a drainage ditch filled with water from two big culverts. Jaggers, 44, was waiting at the light on northbound Knollwood. The collision occurred just in front of him and he saw the now-out-of-control van rolling toward his car. “This is it!” the Schaumburg father of two thought to himself, unable to back out of the way because of another vehicle behind him. But the van stopped before it reached him. Its driver, 48-year-old Mike Fabry of Hoffman Estates, jumped out, initially confused by not seeing the vehicle he’d collided with. Realizing what had happened, he and Jaggers ran to the ditch. “I see that the car’s in the water, upside down,” Jaggers said. The water smelled foul. Fighting his fear, Jaggers waded into the waist-high ditch. The passenger side of the car was tilted up, and Jaggers helped the distraught Roy out through the window. "Oh my God, oh my God!” she cried. He breathlessly asked her if there was anyone else in the car...Expand for more