By Jim Hannah
Enquirer staff writer

VERONA - Pop! Gerald McDaniel turned his attention from a mortar mixer to see what made the sound.

What he saw made the 32-year-old Walton man's heart race: a Dodge Durango barreling uncontrollably down a hill toward a murky green pond with two little children inside.

The children's screams and cries knifed through McDaniel.

Andy Fitzpatrick, of Independence, Gerald McDaniels, of Walton and Vernon Egan, of Crescent Springs discuss their rescue of two children from a Dodge Durango that rolled into a pond behind the house they were working on. (Patrick Reddy photo)

He moved his fireplug frame as fast as possible toward the SUV. The 2-ton truck had climbed a stack of plywood and raced 40 mph down a steep bank.

"I don't know where the energy came from," said McDaniel as he nervously smoked a discount-brand cigarette while recalling the ordeal Friday with his co-workers. "I chased the truck all the way down the hill but lost my energy."

Splash.

The Durango hit the pond, but it floated - to everyone's surprise.

Co-worker Vernon Egan saw that McDaniel had exerted all his energy.

"I thought, 'Boy, I'm glad I never picked up smoking, I'm going to need all my breath today,' " the 34-year-old Crescent Springs man said a day later while overlooking the pond.

The momentum of the SUV propelled it across the roughly 1-acre lake as Egan ran down the hill as fast as he could. A third co-worker, Andy Fitzpatrick, followed.

"Everyone's heart was about to pound out of their chest," said Fitzpatrick, 38, of Independence.

He dived into the lake behind Egan.

Fitzpatrick reached his hand out to the 2-year-old boy, Josh, but he wouldn't leave the car. Josh clutched the half-rolled-down driver's side window.

"We needed leverage to pry him loose, but we didn't want to touch the car," said Fitzpatrick. "We thought any extra weight exerted on the car might make it sink."

Bonnie, the 4-year-old girl, went for Fitzpatrick's hand. He slipped his hands underneath Bonnie's little body and lifted her above the water. Bystanders said it appeared Bonnie was floating on her back.

Now Egan had to decide what to do with Josh - too scared to leave his mother's SUV for a stranger's hand.

He yanked Josh, but the 2-year-old's leg got stuck on an interior handle. Bubbles floated to the pond's surface as the commotion caused the SUV to take on water.

It was sinking.

If Egan could just give it one last tug; but his energy was gone. He hadn't taken off his work boots.

"My feet were jelly," Egan said. "I don't know where the energy came from, but I got the boy free as the car went under."

Egan and Fitzpatrick, both wearing heavy work boots, felt a huge undercurrent pulling them down with the SUV.

"I thought, 'This is it,' " said Fitzpatrick. "I didn't think we were going to make it."

But as bad off as Fitzpatrick found himself, Egan was worse.

Stagnant water rushed into Egan's lungs as he struggled to keep Josh above water.

McDaniel knew his buddies were in trouble. He tossed in a yellow extension cord and yelled, "Grab it!"

Fitzpatrick did.

Egan didn't.

McDaniel rushed into the water and pulled out his friend. The children's mother, nine months pregnant, was also in the pond to aid in the rescue.

Exhausted, Fitzpatrick, McDaniel and Egan sat on shore. It felt like two hours had passed since they looked up to see what the mysterious "pop" was, yet it had been only 15 minutes.

Josh and Bonnie were asleep on a blanket someone had spread on the ground. Andrea Walton, the mother, stoic and helpful through it all, broke into tears only after her husband arrived.

Rescuers arrived at the construction site in a development called Porter Plantation off Porter Road shortly after 2 p.m. on Thursday, but Josh and Bonnie had already been saved.

"They are heroes," said Boone County sheriff's spokesman Tom Scheben, whose department is still trying to figure out why the SUV rolled away. "They dove into the lake and rescued the kids."

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E-mail jhannah@enquirer.com