In an incident in Sunrise, a woman was hospitalized after her car crashed into a canal. The accident occurred around 6:40 p.m. Wednesday near the 3730 block of North Pine Island Road. Quick action was needed as neighbors witnessed the event, with one man, Ovidio Romero, making the split decision to leap into the water in an attempt to assist, as reported by NBC Miami.
Attempting to make contact with emergency services, Romero was on hold with 911 when he realized nobody else was available to assist, compelling him to take matters into his own hands. The situation escalated quickly, he recalled, detailing to NBC Miami, "When she saw I was going in to help her, she lowered her window and it got full of water and went down." The woman, identified by neighbors as elderly and suffering from health issues, had difficulty parking and was submerged for several minutes.
According to a witness's daughter, who was also present during the harrowing event, she was desperately trying to reach authorities for help as her father dashed into the canal. It took about 10 minutes for rescue crews to arrive and extract the woman from her vehicle, reported by Local 10 News.
While the woman's current state remains undisclosed, the neighborhood has been left rattled by the incident. Neighbors recalled the familiar sight of the woman, who they say often struggled with mobility. Romero told NBC Miami, "You’d always see her and she’d sometimes have difficulty getting into the car." Hours after the episode, her heavily damaged Toyota was retrieved, its shattered windows marking the severity of the ordeal.
