WESTWOOD—An Emerson motorist traveling southbound on Lafayette Avenue in the wee hours June 21 lost control of her car around the bend at Ridgewood Road and crashed through a fence, shed, and retaining wall—then into an in-ground swimming pool.
Westwood Police Officer Ryan Sestanovich responded to the scene, off Forest Avenue, and saw the driver, her car adrift in the shallow end. She was terrified, banging on her window for help, police said.
Sestanovich hopped into the pool. With a window punch, he broke a back window and got the driver to safety.
The car, a 2021 Honda wagon, continued to the bottom. Photos taken about an hour after the mishap showed its nose touching the pool floor and its trunk above the surface amid debris.
Sestanovich was promptly issued a department commendation, Police Chief Michael Pontillo told Pascack Press.
PBA Local 206 Delegate Anthony Mazzo added praise of his own, saying that “Without a second thought, Officer Sestanovich risked his life to save this young woman.”
Police said that the 32-year-old driver apparently fell asleep before the approximately 3 a.m. accident.
Pontillo said the driver suffered cuts and scrapes and was brought to Pascack Valley Medical Center.
He said the property was not the driver’s; there were no other injuries reported.
The driver was charged with careless driving. She told police that she lost control of her vehicle and hit the accelerator and not the brake, causing the accident.
In 2018 special police officer Sestanovich set wheels in motion that led to a local bike shop replacing a local teen’s stolen BMX bicycle. The boy’s mother would have been unable to replace it on her own, she told news outlets at the time.
“It’s the definition of community policing, something the department strives for,” Pontillo said of that outcome.