Teenager who drove truck into Rock River says lucky to have escaped | My status line

MACHESNEY PARK, Ill. (WTVO) – After a 16-year-old plunged his truck into the Rock River As of Friday, he now credits an old technology with saving his life.

Nicholas Vyboryn, who started his own landscaping business two years ago at the age of 14, said he was driving to work Friday afternoon when the brakes on his red pickup truck went broke down.

He was on Wallace Avenue in Machesney Park and said he couldn't stop and headed straight toward the Rock River. His truck was immediately filled with water upon impact and Vyboryn said he had to act quickly.

“As soon as I hit the water, I saw water coming in,” Vyboryn said. “Luckily, I’m a very good swimmer. I just thought about my swimming abilities because I couldn't do anything else. Luckily my windows were cranked (operated). If they were electric, I probably wouldn't have been able to get out. »

Vyboryn managed to escape from his sinking truck, swim to shore and knock on a nearby neighbor's door for help. Neighbors called the police and Vyboryn's mother, Fayth Melendez, who was spending the day at Sand Park Pool.

“I was in the pool for five minutes and then something told me to go straight back to my phone,” Melendez said. “I probably missed ten calls from a random number and immediately panicked. I knew it had something to do with him.

Melendez said she dropped everything and drove to Wallace Avenue as quickly as she could.

“My heart literally went out of my body in that moment, and I feel like it hasn’t been back since,” she said.

Vyboryn described the river's current as being as strong as a tornado.

“It was a bit like tornadoes were pulling against me,” Vyboryn said. “I kind of collapsed and was going really hard. It took a lot of strength. When I got home I sat there and waited with them for the police and watched my truck go down the river.

Melendez said her son's quick decision-making and strength in the water saved his life.

“Introduce your children to swimming lessons as soon as you can, because it is truly a blessing to know how to swim,” Melendez said. “I know adults today who don’t know how to swim and if that happened to them, they wouldn’t make it.”

All working equipment in Vyboryn was destroyed, including new mowers. His family created a GoFundMe page to help him return to work.

“We’re just grateful and blessed that he’s OK,” Melendez said. “We are all still shaken.”