Jayden Payne, a football player at Aldine High School, was leaving school around midday as the storm was worsening, the Houston Chronicle reported.
Payne was walking with his mother back to her car, which she parked at a nearby grocery store, when they saw an SUV drive into a flooded ditch.
Payne sprang into action.
"I hurried up, threw my jacket off, I threw my shirt off," Payne told the Houston Chronicle. "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."
The woman opened her car door. Payne and two other bystanders helped her and her young daughter out of the water's strong current and got them to safety, KHOU reported.
"She was crying. She said 'You're my guardian angel,'" Payne told the Chronicle.
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
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