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Would-be rescuer pulled from water

She went to the shore to enjoy the sunset, but ended up in the water trying to save a driver whose car plunged in.

By JACOB H. FRIES
Published April 20, 2005

DUNEDIN - Diane Godard brought paperwork from her office and parked on the mainland side of the Dunedin Causeway to watch the sunset Tuesday.

Minutes later, out of the corner of her eye, she saw a speeding red Oldsmobile flash across the parking lot, a man in a baseball cap at the wheel. "He came in fast," Godard said. "The pedal to the metal."

The car sped into the Intracoastal Waterway at 8:14 p.m., plunging in just north of the bridge. Godard, wearing a sweater and long pants, jumped in after him.

The 52-year-old woman swam out, but after a moment, "all I could see was the red tail light," she said.

She dove deeper, hoping to pull the man through a window, but with the swirling current, she had to hold onto a barnacle-covered bridge pylon. Exhausted, she waited for help.

The man inside the car, Michael D. Trubey, 40, of Palm Harbor, was pulled from the 10-foot-deep water an hour later and pronounced dead. The Oldsmobile was pulled out late Tuesday night.

Why Trubey drove his car off the sea wall remained unclear Wednesday. He had raced to an estimated 60 mph without braking, according to investigators.

His family said Trubey had phoned a few hours earlier, telling them of his day of fishing. "He had a few bites and he said he was going to come home," said Trubey's stepfather, John Cash, 57.

A divorced father of two, Trubey had lived at his parents' home on and off for several years. He recently returned to the house to help his mother while Cash recovered from surgery, Cash said.

Cash, an Air Force veteran, said Trubey spent most of his youth on the road while the family moved from one military base to the next. Trubey graduated from high school in England and held a series of jobs. "He could fix almost anything," Cash said, through tears.

Tuesday night, when Godard jumped in after Trubey's car, she assumed he wanted to commit suicide. But as a psychotherapist, she said she recalled how people who want to die often decide to turn back at the critical moment.

"I just felt I had to do my best and at least try," she said.

With the swift current and the setting sun, she soon realized she was helpless.

"When I was in the water, there was a point that I just cried - and felt a great deal of sadness," Godard said. "It felt like his spirit passed."

She clung to the barnacles of the bridge pylon, her hands cut. She didn't have the strength to return to the shore. She hung there for what seemed like a half-hour.

Then help arrived. One Dunedin Fire Rescue worker swam out to her with a flotation device; a second firefighter lowered a rope from the bridge above and guided her and the rescue worker to the shore.

Someone wrapped her in a warm blanket, and she told authorities what happened. Drenched, she drove to her Palm Harbor home and showered. Soap burned her cuts.

Wednesday, she woke up stiff, and bandaged her hands. She canceled appointments and spent the day at home.

"I just feel for his family," she said.

-- Times staff writer Candace Rondeaux contributed to this report.

[Last modified April 20, 2005, 19:47:02]