Man Was Trapped in Truck on Live TV During Hurricane Francine — Until Off-Duty Nurse Broke a Window to Save Him

Miles Crawford tells PEOPLE that at the time of the rescue, the water was up to the man's chin

An off-duty New Orleans emergency room nurse rushed to help when he saw a reporter live-streaming an emergency in his neighborhood — and thanks to his quick thinking, he saved a stranger's life.

Around 8:45 p.m. local time on Wednesday, Sept. 11 — hours after Hurricane Francine first made landfall as a Category 2 storm — Miles Crawford was standing on his porch with his 10-year-old dog, Annie, watching the storm.

"I've been through quite a few hurricanes," Crawford, an emergency room nurse at University Medical Center-LCMC Health, a level one trauma center in New Orleans, tells PEOPLE. "I wasn't worried or anxious.... but I knew it was moving fast."

Then, his brother texted him to say he saw a news crew at the canal about 200 feet from Crawford's home in Lakeview. "It's known to flood there quickly and fast," Crawford says. "They're always having to shut down that road."

By the time he approached, he saw a police car with sirens flashing and WDSU news reporter Jonah Gilmore's red rain jacket. The reporter was frantically asking police officers for help because a man was trapped in a submerged pickup truck floating in the flooded canal.

"I was stressed," Gilmore, 33, tells PEOPLE. "I can't just jump into rushing floodwater and I'm also trying to do my job, but it's like, what do I do because it's we're live on TV and this guy is in his car stuck and he can't get out."

"Being in that situation, it was just so scary and frantic," adds the WDSU News reporter.

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From the scene, Crawford texted his brother that he was going to go check it out and see if he can help.

He knocked on the police cars window, but the officer wasn't in the car. He approached the TV reporter.

"I was like, 'Hey, I'm an ER Nurse. I've got medical supplies. Do y'all need anything? I can help out,' " he tells PEOPLE. "The reporter was like, 'Yeah, we actually might need some help.' I was like, 'What can I do?' "

When Crawford got closer to the truck, he spoke with the police officer, who told him the water was about 8-feet deep. "It's not safe. It's too deep," Crawford remembers the officer saying.

But Crawford decided to spring into action and perform the rescue himself anyway.

"I don't blame the cop," he says. "If I was him, I wouldn't have gone in there by myself to try and get that guy out because he had no backup. I was like, 'Well, if I go in there, at least he can facilitate my rescue if something were to happen.' "

Related: Mom Rescues 2 of Her Kids from House Fire, But Dies After Going Back to Save 1-Year-Old Son

Crawford says he asked if anyone had anything to break a window and then ran back to his house to grab a hammer before rushing into the rapidly rising water.

"I kicked off my boots and walk in that water making sure I don't fall — I know there's a big ledge there as well, it's not level ground there. So I don't want to steep in a hole, misstep and get swept off," he says. "I go over there and I get up to the window and I say, 'Can you get in the back seat?' And he said, 'Yeah. '"

The water was up to Crawford's chest. Inside the truck, the water was up to the driver's chin.

"He's like, 'Man, the water's rising pretty quick,' " Crawford recalls. "I told him, 'Yeah, it's gonna be over your head in a minute if you don't get out.' "

Crawford used his hammer to break the window, then helped the man climb out. "I just grabbed him," Crawford says. "He was unsteady on his i feet, I started to fall back into the water."

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He says he got the man over to a guardrail and after climbing over, they were able to get on dry land.

"This guy is so brave and selfless, he's legit a hero," Gilmore tells PEOPLE.

But to Crawford, it was all in a day's work.

"Honestly, I don't see it as going above and beyond — it's actually pretty easy compared to what we do here in the emergency room," says Crawford, who says he wasn't on duty because of the storm, and is currently in school to become a nurse practitioner.

Related: Woman Rescued After Sitting on Top of Overturned Car in Calif. Floodwaters for Nearly 15 Hours

As for storms in general, Crawford urges others to listen to the news and follow the news.

"Stay off the road," he says. "Wait to be safe. Help out."

Gilmore echoes the warning, saying, "I just want to stress to people the dangers of flood waters and what could happen."

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