BELLEVILLE — About 25 people stood and watched at the shoulder of Route 21 Monday morning to see a woman standing on the trunk of her car after she accidentally drove off the highway, landing in the Passaic River.

Only one person took action. Michael James jumped into the water and kept the woman afloat until she could be pulled to safety.

The 22-year-old Orange resident crashed at about 10 a.m. off the northbound side. James, 36, was driving with his friend when they hit traffic and saw the commotion.

"We saw a car floating by," he said. "I heard a woman screaming. She was standing on the trunk and the front of the car was under water. She was just screaming that she couldn’t swim, she couldn’t swim."

The front of the Mazda that was under water appeared to be lodged in mud but it gave out, leaving the woman in the water. She went under and popped back up, struggling mightily to keep her head above water. James then jumped in and swam toward her.

"Nobody else was going in so I jumped in and did what had to be done," James said.

Much of what happened next was a blur, he said, until the firefighters and police threw over a rope for the woman to grab as they pulled her to shore. He remembers her grabbing his shirt and pulling him underwater at one point.

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"I told her she has to calm down or we’re both going to drown out here," James said.

They were taken to Clara Maass Medical Center and treated for hypothermia, and they both escaped major injury. James said his body temperature dropped three or four degrees. He stayed at the hospital for about four hours.

An "unsafe speed" was the expected cause of the accident and not the weather, said Belleville Detective Lt. John McAloon.

James, a lifelong Belleville resident who served in the Navy for four years, said instincts and his military training took over.

By Monday evening, he was relaxing at home with his longtime girlfriend Courtney and their 2-year-old son Nico. When the story of his rescue came on TV, Courtney was sure to grab her phone and record it to remember her significant other's actions. All the while Nico pointed to the TV and said, "Daddy's talking."

James works as a signal maintainer for New Jersey Transit. He also recently applied to become a Clifton firefighter, turning Monday's actions into something of an audition.

He did about a half-dozen interviews Monday. The attention was wild, he said.

"It’s definitely strange," he said. "I’m not used to this at all."

When asked if he considered himself a hero, James hesitated.

"I don’t know," he said. "I guess it’s accurate but I’m just a guy who did what I would hope anyone would do if I needed it."

MacAloon was more certain in his assertion of James.

"I think it took a courageous act to jump in that frigid water," the lieutenant said. "If it weren’t for him it probably would have been a recovery and not a rescue."

Email: jongsma@northjersey.com

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