When Jamie McQueen regained consciousness after flipping his car upside down into the water, the first thing that came to mind was whether there were alligators.

McQueen, 34, of Fayetteville, was delivering a Toyota Camry from Raleigh to Greenville around 10:30 a.m. Wednesday when he experienced a malfunction on U.S. 264 just west of Wilson.

McQueen felt a front-end noise in the car, so he decided to get off at the Downing Road exit and head into Wilson to check it out.

McQueen was driving east on Downing Street a half-mile west of Forest Hills Road when he said the steering wheel locked up on him. 

“It turned to the left. I tried to press the brake down slowly, and it wouldn’t do nothing,” McQueen said. “I pressed the brake down as hard as I could, and that’s when I started skidding.”

McQueen said he was traveling about 45 or 50 mph when he lost control, crossed the center line and struck a utility pole.

“That’s the last thing I remember,” McQueen said. 

McQueen awoke upside down in a watery finger of the Wiggins Millpond.

“At first I was kind of nervous, man,” McQueen said. “I was hoping there weren’t gators out there.”

McQueen was upside down in the water while wearing his seat belt.

“I had to unhook it. That took me the longest. I had to reach down there to get it because I was shaking and stuff,” McQueen said. “It finally unhooked me, and when it unhooked me, I fell down and I felt it on my neck a little bit. That’s when I felt water and I said ‘Oh, man. OK. I’m not on solid land. I’m in the water. I’m in a pond.’”

McQueen couldn’t get the driver’s side door open, so he went to the back seat.

“I had to get my energy up and get my bearings and figure out where I was at. I unlocked the back door and got out the back,” McQueen said. “I crawled out and there was a fisherman standing on top of the car. Thank God. He helped me get up onto the ground and everything.”

The fisherman was Dominick Sweet. Sweet had been fishing at a clear spot frequented by anglers.

“When it hit the gravel real hard, I thought, ‘This car ain’t coming to fish,’” Sweet said. “I took off running over the top of the hill. When it hit the pole, it flipped over and hit the water.”

Sweet ran over and stepped onto the car. 

“I was asking him if there was anybody else in there. He said ‘No I’m by myself,’ Sweet recalled. “I said, ‘Hurry up and get out of the water and sit on the ground and get yourself right for when the ambulance gets here.’”

Another nearby fisherman had called 911.

“I don’t know how he got to the back seat, but he got to the back seat and he got out,” Sweet said. “He asked “Where am I?”

‘I said ‘You’re in the water and you need to get out of the water,” Sweet continued. "His tire was turned one way, so I know it locked up on him.”

McQueen said when he finally climbed up to the top of the car, he was all right.

“I’m just glad to be alive,” McQueen said. “It scared me worse than it hurt.”

The Fayetteville resident is married with two kids.

“I’m going to be able to see them again,” McQueen said. “That’s the only thing that matters. I’m just lucky to be alive. After I hit that pole, I’m lucky to be alive.”

Sweet said McQueen called his wife on the phone immediately after the wreck. 

“As long as he’s happy and still moving around and gets to go see his wife and kids, I’m good with that,” Sweet said. “As long as he gets to go home.”

Wilson police officers are investigating the wreck. Wilson Fire/Rescue Services responded to the scene. Wilson County EMS bandaged McQueen’s right hand, which had been slightly injured.

Wilson Energy responded to repair the damaged utility pole.