Two Clearwater police officers swam toward a sinking car Thursday evening and smashed a window to reach a woman who was unresponsive inside. The driver survived the dramatic rescue and was taken to a nearby hospital, though authorities have not released her condition.
The crash happened shortly after 6:30 p.m. near McMullen Booth Road and Enterprise Road, according to FOX 13 Tampa Bay. Clearwater police said the officers found the vehicle quickly submerging, tried to open a locked door, and then broke a window so they could pull the 45-year-old woman from the car.
Diver Checks Sinking Car For Other Passengers
The Clearwater rescue comes less than two weeks after a separate Pinellas-area pond crash in which an 85-year-old Tarpon Springs man died after his pickup entered a retention pond, as reported by Hoodline. The incidents had different outcomes, but both showed how quickly a vehicle entering the water can become an emergency escape and recovery operation.
Fire officials sent a diver into the Clearwater pond and confirmed the woman was the only person inside the vehicle. She was transported to Mease Countryside Hospital, while the driver’s identity, medical condition and the cause of the crash remained undisclosed as the investigation continued, FOX 13 reported.
