A North Carolina sheriff’s deputy plunged into the pond of an apartment complex at night to rescue two young girls who, cops say, had been thrown there to drown by their father.

Durham County Sheriff’s Deputy David Earp was off duty and says he rushed out with little more than his department T-shirt, badge and flashlight after the apartment manager called him at home around 9 p.m. Sunday to report some kind of trouble.

“After I was informed that there were kids involved, instinct took over just to go out there and rescue them,” Earp said in an interview Tuesday with The Associated Press.

Earp, who lives around the corner from the pond, spotted the girls in the dark with his flashlight and saw a 5-year-old floating and crying. Her 3-year-old sister was fully submerged.

Earp said he charged into water about five feet deep and scooped them up, holding one in each arm. He took no notice of the girls’ father, Alan Tysheen Eugene Lassiter, 29, of Raleigh — the man who was later charged with trying to drown his kids.

Earp said the girls were about 10 feet from the bank, which slopes sharply down to the pond that stretches about the length of a football field.

Read more at NBC News