Florida deputies rescue 2 from submerged car
It was nighttime, and the vehicle was not visible from the road, so Deputy Fritchie "rolled down his window and relied on the sound of a car horn" to locate the crash site.
Two people were rescued from a flooded car after getting into an accident with another vehicle in Indiantown, Florida, on Sept. 12. Their car ended up in what the Martin County Sheriff’s Office described on social media as a “deep, water-filled embankment.”
Authorities in Florida are investigating after two people were rescued from a submerged vehicle, and the car that struck them was nowhere to be found.
The Martin County Sheriff's Office said two people were injured Friday night when their vehicle was struck by another car while traveling eastbound on the Martin Grade Scenic Highway, which runs through wetlands between Lake Okeechobee and the developed areas on the east coast. The impact sent their vehicle off the road and down a "deep, water-filled embankment," where it became submerged with the occupants trapped inside.
The occupants called 911, but their connection was cut short before they could give a precise location, the sheriff's office said. Deputies Matt Fritchie and Juan Pepper-Orelliana worked with dispatchers utilizing RapidSOS, who guided them to the "general area." It was nighttime, and the vehicle was not visible from the road, so Fritchie "rolled down his window and relied on the sound of a car horn" to locate the crash site.
Body-worn camera video shared by the sheriff's office shows deputies cutting through thick vegetation to reach the water as the car horn blares nearby. Once they reached the wreck, they jumped into the water and broke into the vehicle, pulling the victims to safety.
The victims were transported to an area hospital with injuries, the extent of which the sheriff's office did not specify.
The sheriff's office said the crash remains under investigation, and they are working to locate the vehicle that struck the victims and fled the scene.
"In times of such crisis, we have warriors," the sheriff's office said. "Between our incredible dispatchers and our determined deputies, this became a clear case of our warriors working quickly and risking their own lives to save others."
Report a Typo
