Man Helps After Pickup Plunges Into Pontchartrain

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A Louisiana man says he didn't stop to think before jumping into the water to help a motorist whose pickup truck careened off a causeway and into Lake Pontchartrain.

Alvin Pike tells NOLA.com/The Times Picayune he saw the accident happen while driving Saturday from his home in Covington to his job in New Orleans.

Pike says the pickup in front of him hit the left guardrail, moved abruptly to the right side of the bridge and fell into the lake. Pike slammed his brakes, waved for traffic to stop and jumped in.

Pike says other motorists threw down ropes and a life vest to pull out the pickup driver, whom officials initially identified only as a 26-year-old man from River Ridge, Louisiana. They also pulled Pike onto the bridge.

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