By LES HIGH

Golf probably saved Jonathon Tuton’s life early Friday morning.

Playing the ultimate water hole, Tuton grabbed a golf club in the back seat of his car to break out a window as his Pontiac GT Vibe quickly sank beneath the rushing waters of a swollen creek emptying Benton’s Millpond. He then climbed on the roof of the submerged car and waited for help.

“If it wasn’t for those golf clubs, I’d be dead right now,” the 25-year-old Tuton said soon after he was rescued by firefighters in a small boat.

His ordeal began while Tuton was traveling from his home in the China Grove community near Chadbourn to start his bread-truck route about 4:30 a.m. He swerved to miss a large tree limb partially blocking Pine Log Road. He overcorrected and plunged into the edge of the wide creek at Benton’s Millpond, located about three miles east of Chadbourn.

He narrowly missed a bridge abutment and the car appeared to have settled in a thick matt of grass at water’s edge. He dialed 9-1-1 to report the wreck, but the car suddenly slipped into the rushing water and was carried downstream.

Tuton said he began beating on the driver’s side window with his fist to escape but water soon began to fill the car.

“It was scary,” Tuton said. “It was dark. The water was carrying me downstream and water was coming in fast. I couldn’t break the glass with my fist and then I remembered the golf clubs in the back. I was able to break out the passenger window and climb on the roof.”

Tuton, not a swimmer, stood on the roof and placed another call to the 9-1-1 Center. Initially, he thought he was at the Slippery Log Road bridge closer to Whiteville but gathered his wits and realized he was at Benton’s Millpond.

A fire truck from Brunswick VFD stopped at the bridge.

“We could hear him hollering when we got there,” Brunswick Fire Chief Jerry Gore said.
“You just could see him standing on the top of his car but you couldn’t see the car at all.”

A branch about 60 yards from the bridge prevented the compact car from being swept farther downstream.

Brunswick Firefighter Chris Evans, who lives near the scene of the crash, rushed a short distance down the road and retrieved a small boat from a relative’s house. Gore, Evans and Firefighter Josh Cribb paddled downstream and brought Tuton to the bank, where he was assessed for injuries by Chadbourn Rescue EMTs.

Only Tuton’s pants were wet, and he had some minor cuts on one hand.

Efforts to fish the sunken car from the creek lasted all morning. A large wrecker from Joe Jacobs’ Wrecker Service assisted a smaller wrecker from Southeast Towing. Workers got the car to the road at 11:30 a.m. after considerable work and coordination.

One passerby, oblivious to what had happened, asked one of the state troopers on the scene what had happened as both wreckers worked to pull the still-submerged car from the creek.

“Somebody caught a big catfish and they’re trying to get it out,” the trooper quipped. The man seemed satisfied with the answer and drove away, much to the amusement of the small band of people gathered on the bridge.

Tuton’s car was a total loss from water damage.