Emergency crews braved frigid temperatures to rescue a man who drove his car into the Stonycreek River in Johnstown Monday night.

Those who witnessed the accident said they had never seen anything like it: a car heading straight for and plunging into the river.

"What I saw was a car headed straight for the railing and I watched it plunge in," said witness Tom Conniff.

Battling frigid temperatures, rescuers were knee deep in water pulling a man out of a car that fell more than 20 feet into the Stonycreek River.

A driver-by on Somerset Street said he observed the driver to be going at a high rate of speed in a parking lot. The witness said the driver jumped a couple of concrete parking stops, hit a parked pick-up truck, that pick-up hit a pedestrian, then the car kept going straight into the river.

Both the pedestrian and driver did survive the accident. However, authorities said pulling the driver out of the river was a difficult task.

"The temperatures, getting up and down, the wall was real slick of course... The water makes it tough and conditions like that," said rescuer Jason Novack.

"We were very concerned about his c-spine, so we take every precaution to get him up safe," said Johnstown Fire Chief Tony Kovacic.

The driver was brought up safely and taken to a local hospital. Both the driver and pedestrian are in stable condition.

Police are still investigating what caused the driver to go into the river.