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Good Samaritans who saved family with newborn from sinking car honored

The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office awarded the two siblings for their life-saving efforts.
Credit: 10News Staff
Diana Windsor hugs Jolisa Jones, who helped save her and her daughter's life.

TAMPA, Fla. -- A special honor has been presented to two Good Samaritans, a brother and sister in Tampa who saved parents with a newborn baby from a sinking car.

The crash happened in August, but on Wednesday, the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office awarded the two for their life-saving efforts.

At their 4th Quarter Awards Ceremony, the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office gave a big round of applause to Aaron Allen and Jolisa Jones for saving a family from a sinking car.

“It was what anyone should have done, and it just made everything so much more worth it,” Jones said.

There to greet them with hugs after the ceremony was Diana Windsor and her baby, Azara.

“They were our guardian angels for sure,” Windsor said.

Azara was just 11 days old when the crash happened in August. Their SUV flipped into a pond when she, her husband and baby were pushed off Interstate 75 by a hit-and-run driver near State Road 56.

The brother and sister, driving nearby, immediately stopped to help.

“It actually happened right in front of us. A car smacked them, their car started to flip. As they started flipping, we were already pulling the truck over,” said Jones.

“With the car flipped over, we couldn’t see inside, so the only thing I could think about was let’s flip the car,” Allen said.

“They flipped it themselves. Just the two of them flipped a RAV-4 in the water,” said Windsor.

With the family still trapped inside, they broke the windshield to get in.

“I had to take off my shirt, wrap it around my arm and punch it through the windshield,” Allen said.

“Once the car filled with water, all we could see was water and the airbags. We were fearful we were going to drown,” Windsor said.

Thankfully the parents and baby weren't injured, but an unlikely friendship has formed.

“We’ve had dinner with them. We are planning something for the holidays; we haven’t actually figured that out yet, but we will soon,” said Jones.

“We were so happy to know that good people get rewarded and get recognition,” Jones said.

The Florida Highway Patrol is still looking for the driver of the car who hit the family and took off.

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