She dove in head first, not drove. Evidently from what another article said, her money flew out of her hand into the water and she dove after it. Do hope she recovers from her injuries.

I was paddling my kayak under the pier when this happened. The waves were coming from the north and splashing into my boat. I was going through the pilings that were marked with the red arrows which is the wide place to pass through. There were two girls walking on the pier towards the beach just ahead of me. I was concentrating on getting through safely and did so. As I turned toward the beach to launch my boat I saw one of the girls racing down the stairs, wade through the water as fast as she could go towards me. I wondered what she was doing and came to a stop. About 20 feet ahead of me she reached down into the water and pulled out a limp body face down from under the water.
I thought that she found a dead body when I realized that it was the girl that was walking with. She turned her over and was rescuing her. About then another guy came down the stairs to help. She told him that she was breathing and talking. Within about a minute two more guys joined them in the rescue. She left them in their care for a moment and swam a few strokes and retrieved something from the water and told the girl that she got it.
I heard her say that the girl was breathing and talking but couldn’t move. A girl from the pier was telling them to put her into a c-spine position and to not let her bend. All four of them were holding her a flat as they could struggling against the waves. Other people were running around the pier and showed up with a paddle board. They got her safely on it and very slowly brought her to beach where the paramedics were waiting for her. I did see a helicopter coming from the east and thought that it might land but it went toward Heavenly where they transporter her.
When I was loading my boat I saw the girl that went after the drowning victim so quickly. I asked her how the girl was and she said that was alive buy maybe had some paralysis problems. She said that she had $3o in her hand when the wind blew it out and she went after it and “unfortunately” dove head first to get it. She immediately went in after her which Is when I came out from under the pier and started to see what was happing. The 3 guys had a major role in rescuing her in a very professionally way . I knew that by the way they were handling her that someone knew what to do in this situation.
She told me that she was a lifeguard and from what a saw of her she should teach people how to be a lifeguard. I told her a few times” you just saved that girls life”. The employees at Timber Cove got recognition for rescuing the girl, And rightfully so. But I saw a girl racing down the pier stairs, racing through the water and pull a limp body face down from under the water. When I talked to her I wasn’t thinking of being a reporter and didn’t get her name. But I will never forget her reaching down into the water and pulling that girl from a certain death 20 feet in front of me.
I’m not the most industrious guy in the world but it would be great if Lake Tahoe News would follow up and find out who that lifeguard is and see to it that the city recognizes her for saving that girls life. When you see someone scramble so quickly and pull a body from under the water 20 feet from you, you won’t forget that any time too soon.