Local Man Potential Lifesaver in Floodwaters Today

Mark Dust was trying to help his friend find his dogs today and ended up rescuing a man from a possible drowning.

Dust, owner of a number of Subway's Restaurant franchises in the area, was helping his friend and neighbor Dr. Peter Bonutti locate Bonutti's two dogs who had run away in the storm this morning near Lake Sara. He said Bonutti's daughter retrieved one of their dogs, but Dust and his grandson Colin McDonough continued to help Bonutti search for the other dog, Sarge. Dust and Colin were heading down Hillside Drive when nine-year-old Colin said to Dust, "Grandpa, there's a head in the water!" 

The head was that of Jack Heinz, who had been sucked into a vertical culvert that carries storm water down into Lake Sara. Dust stopped and went to grab Heinz, but couldn't reach him. Heinz was literally stopping up the culvert and the water was getting deep. Dust took the two leashes that he was carrying in case he retrieved Bonutti's dogs, hooked them together, and tossed them to Heinz, then pulled him to safety. That also unplugged the culvert, getting rid of the water.

Asked about the remarkable circumstances surrounding the incident...looking for a loose dog and rescuing a man...and Dust called it a "God-winked moment."

By the way, everyone involved in the incident is fine. Bonutti said he plans to work with his dogs to do think twice about running off again.