Infant rescued, woman charged with DUI after truck falls into rising creek

LUMPKIN COUNTY, Ga. (FOX 5 Atlanta) - A daring rescue in North Georgia Friday morning. The Lumpkin County Emergency Services Swift Water Rescue Team pulled a woman and a baby from a truck in the middle of a raging creek.

FOX 5 has since learned the woman is facing charges of DUI.

The incident happened just before 9 a.m. Friday, and Clay Creek in Dahlonega was rising due to heavy rain. Causing the water was moving dangerously fast.

"Swift water like that, it doesn't take much to take your feet out from under you," said Battalion Chief Daniel Morris.

The Swift Water Rescue team rigged a ladder and ropes from the bank of the creek to the pickup that was now in the middle of the creek. The water was over the hood of the truck.

"The truck was half full of water now. We got the back glass took out, give us a little more time to get the two patients out. Once we got the ladder moved to the truck, we were able to bring the baby out the back," said Morris.

Once the 2-month-old baby boy was safe, it was a matter of getting the woman, 29-year-old Andrea McMeans, to safety.

Firefighters helped her crawl through the back of th truck and carefully make her way across the ladder. Morris says they were all nervous.

"Unstable vehicle, with a female and an infant, that always makes tensions run high," said Battalion Chief Morris.

It was hours after the rescue that Chief Morris learned how the truck ended up in the creek. The Georgia State Patrol says McMeans lost control of the truck while going around a curve, went down an embankment, hit a tree and landed in the water. Troopers say she's facing charges of DUI, DUI-Child endangerment, and failure to maintain lane.

Morris says the circumstances surrounding how she ended up in the water don't matter to him or his team.

"We don't even look into that, it's just saving a life, which is what we try to do, that's the ultimate goal," he said.

Both McMeans and the baby were rushed to the hospital to be checked out. Morris says mainly because they had been in the extremely cold water.