Aldine football player Jayden Payne saves woman, child from flood waters

Aldine football Jayden Payne helped rescue a woman and her daughter from flood waters Thursday near the school's campus. Click through the gallery for more photos of Tropical Depression Imelda's effect on the greater Houston area. less Aldine football Jayden Payne helped rescue a woman and her daughter from flood waters Thursday near the school's campus. Click through the gallery for more photos of Tropical Depression Imelda's effect on the ... more Photo: Snapchat Photo: Snapchat Image 1 of / 105 Caption Close Aldine football player Jayden Payne saves woman, child from flood waters 1 / 105 Back to Gallery

What Jayden Payne did goes beyond recognition.

The Aldine High School football player jumped into Thursday afternoon's flood waters near campus from Tropical Depression Imelda to rescue a woman and her daughter.

Payne's mother picked him up from school midday with the storm worsening, parking at a nearby ALDI grocery store to avoid driving into flood waters.

They walked back, returned to their car and later saw a BMW SUV drive into a ditch. Payne reacted.

"I hurried up, threw my jacket off, I threw my shirt off," Payne said. "I ran over there across in front of all the cars. I didn't care if all the cars stopped or not because I was more worried about their safety than my safety."

Payne jumped into the bayou, saw the woman open her car door and her head emerge from the water followed by her pulling her daughter's head out of the waters.

Jayden grabbed the woman and her child and pushed them out of the bayou against a strong current with the help of two men. With the mother and daughter spitting up water, Jayden stayed with the family to make sure they were safe and recovering.

"She was crying. She said 'You're my guardian angel,'," said Jayden, recalling the mother's words.

Aldine coach Hank Semler got the message and pictures of the rescue from offensive coordinator Louis Horton. The accident took place approximately around lunch time.

Mustang football player Jayden Payne jumped into the water to help save a woman and her toddler when the car they were in went into the ditch running beside Aldine HS. Great job Jayden...and the 2 other men who risked their lives to help another! @AldineHS_AISD @AldineISD pic.twitter.com/dyCWoCsx7l — @GungHoMustangs (@gunghomustangs) September 19, 2019

Astounded and proud, Semler hoped to get the word out about what Payne had done.

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"To risk your own life to save people that you don't know — he didn't know that lady and her child," Semler said. "He just saw fellow people that needed help and he just immediately sprung to action."

Payne is just glad the mother and daughter, whose names are unknown, are safe.

"I feel like I did something great," Payne said. "I had to make sure two of God's children didn't die at an early age."

Payne is a junior tight end and linebacker at Aldine. Semler says Payne has a great reputation in the classroom and is a leader within the football program.