I can imagine that diving into murky water to rescue not one, but three strapped in children would be extremely difficult, dangerous, and probably pretty intimidating. Perhaps he thought it better to leave it to professionals.
I’m not a parent, so I guess I don’t know how I’d react. I also don’t know how deep the water was, or how fast the car sank, or how long it would have taken me to get out. I also don’t know how rational I’d be in that situation. But I’m betting if they were my kids, they’d be dead now, and so would I be.
As someone who once dove in the water to save one of my dumb friend’s self after they drove off the end of a dock, I cannot see how anyone could have stood there for 5 minutes and watched that car sink. It was off a friggin boat ramp, so it was probably slopped.