Dominic Messina didn't think twice when he saw a car sinking in a Lombard retention pond, its headlights still on.

"I just knew if someone was in that car, if there was a chance I could (save) him, I wanted to," said the 23-year-old server at the nearby Champps Americana restaurant. Messina stripped off his clothes, jumped into the 50-degree water and swam out to the car.

He was able to open the passenger side door under water and feel around in the darkness, but there was nobody in the seat. Then he swam to the driver's side door, which was locked, before the cold forced him back to shore.

The driver, Ali M. Abbas, 29, of Oak Brook was pulled from the car later Sunday night and pronounced dead at Good Samaritan Hospital in Downers Grove. Police still don't know why Abbas' 2002 Audi A4 collided with several unoccupied vehicles in the restaurant parking lot at 2301 Fountain Square before going into the pond.

"It's probably going to boil down to autopsy and toxicology findings," said Lombard Deputy Police Chief Dane Cuny. Results can take 10 to 12 weeks.

Messina, of Elmhurst, who spent summers as a lifeguard for the Lombard Park District, said he wishes he could have saved Abbas.

Cuny says despite the failed efforts, Messina is still a hero. "He certainly made an extreme effort," Cuny said. "There were a lot of other people around there, and he is the only one who took action."