Most drivers would have passed the muddy drainage culvert off U.S. Highway 175 without a second glance. On a frozen Tuesday afternoon in late January 2026, in the middle of a winter storm that had coated Seagoville in ice, tow truck driver Douglas Lane did not.
What happened over the next several minutes left a 39 year old Dallas man alive, a tow truck driver processing what he had just done, and a Seagoville Police Department calling Lane exactly what he was, a hero.
An Abandoned Car And A Voice In The Water
According to WFAA, Lane was conducting patrols for stranded vehicles on icy roads when he spotted an abandoned car stopped in a lane on the eastbound service road in the 2400 block of U.S. 175. He pulled over to check it out. That is when he heard shouting coming from somewhere below the road.
Fox 4 reported that Lane noticed a man thrashing and acting erratically in a nearby highway drainage culvert, his body bobbing up and down in the frigid water. Lane called 911 immediately, then went into the culvert himself to try to help before officers ever arrived.
“It was right there,” Lane told KVUE. “And I just reached in there, and I grabbed hold of whatever I could grab.”
Holding On By A Sweatshirt Hood
Lane was not strong enough to pull the man out alone. The man was too heavy, the water too cold, and at one point Lane watched the mans face slip beneath the surface.
“His face went in the water, and my instinct was to say, ‘Oh no, well, you’re not going to do this,’ and I reached in there.”
— Douglas Lane, tow truck driver, via Fox 4 KDFW
When Seagoville officers arrived, they found Lane holding the man up by the hood of his sweatshirt, fighting to keep his head above the icy water. Seagoville Interim Police Chief Steve Davis, whose body camera captured the scene, described it plainly to WFAA, saying Lane was keeping the mans head above water using nothing but the hood of his sweatshirt. Officers formed a human chain in the freezing water and, together with Lane, finally pulled the man free of the culvert.
A Faint Pulse And A Race Against Time
The man showed almost no signs of life once he was out of the water. Police said he was unresponsive and incoherent, his body having been fully submerged in the cold for an unknown stretch of time.
“He had a faint pulse,” Davis said, according to Fox 4. “He was non responsive, his eyes were rolled back in his head.”
Officers cut away the mans water soaked clothing and covered him with a blanket. Based on information from Lane about the mans behavior before officers arrived, and after spotting signs consistent with drug use, officers administered two nasal doses of naloxone, the opioid reversal medication also known by the brand name Narcan.
Seagoville police said the mans pulse and breathing strengthened following the medication, and his condition rapidly improved. Fire and EMS crews arrived shortly after, treated him for hypothermia, and transported him to a nearby hospital. He was admitted to the intensive care unit. Officers were able to identify him using documents found inside his abandoned vehicle. As of the original reporting, police said it remained unclear how the man ended up in the culvert.
“Two Minutes Later, And It Would Have Been Too Late”
Seagoville police were direct about how close the rescue came to a different outcome. Interim Chief Davis said that had Lane responded even two minutes later, the man would not have survived.
The Seagoville Police Department announced plans to formally recognize Lane at an upcoming city council meeting. But Lane, a 41 year old who told reporters he was still processing what happened days later, said he was not looking for credit.
“I wasn’t trying to get any kind of extra credit for it,” Lane told KVUE. “I’m just doing what I know best, and that’s helping others.” He credited his grandmother for instilling that instinct in him early in life. “My grandma is the one that taught me to always help strangers,” Lane told Fox 4. “Always help somebody in need, and that is what I went with. I just helped him.”
Part Of A Troubling Pattern
The Seagoville rescue happened during a winter stretch that saw several similar incidents across North Texas. WFAA reported on three brothers in Fannin County who died after falling into a pond, an elderly man who died after a fall into a pond in Colleyville, and a man in Sanger who was recovering after reportedly falling into a pond while trying to ice fish.
Seagoville’s case stands apart for one reason. A tow truck driver who happened to be in the right place, and who refused to let go, turned what so often becomes a tragedy into a survival story instead.
This Seagoville Flashback is based on reporting from WFAA (Krista Summerville), KVUE, and Fox 4 KDFW.
