Woman Who Flipped Vehicle into Swamp Rescued by Off Duty Police Officer, Fire Fighter

A Milford woman police say was driving drunk is lucky to be alive after she flipped her car off Route 101 into a swamp near the intersection of Walnut Hill Road. And it's thanks to an off-duty police officer and an off-duty fire fighter who jumped in to help remove her from the submerged vehicle. 


Police, fire and EMS were called to Route 101 near Walnut Hill Road on Thursday, Aug. 29, just after 2 p.m. for a rollover accident. It is there they say a single vehicle, driven by Debbra Hebert, 44, of Milford, veered off the highway, rolled down an embankment and came to rest upside down in the swamp. 

Witnesses to the accident say Officer Ralph McClellan, a full-time officer in Dunbarton and part-time officer in Lyndeborough, and James Moran, a firefighter with the Derry Fire Department pulled over, ran down to the swamp and jumped in to rescue Hebert. 

McClellan broke the glass and cut the seatbelt and then he and Moran pulled Hebert through the mud and water to safety.

"Witness accounts indicate that Hebert would have likely drowned had it not been for the heroic efforts of Officer McClellan and Firefighter Moran," police said in a Friday morning press release.

Hebert suffered no apparent injury in the accident, police say, but she was arrested for driving while intoxicated, a second offense. Hebert was taken to the Amherst Police Department where she was booked and later released on $1,200 personal recognizance bail. She is scheduled for arraignment in Milford district court on Sept. 12. 

Additionally, PSNH was on scene for several hours following the crash, replacing a telephone pole that was broken in the accident.