5 children found in car pulled from pond, hospitalized, but alive
Posted: November 21, 2013 - 1:40pm
ST. LOUIS PARK, Minn. (AP) -- A car veered off a rain-slicked highway ramp in suburban Minneapolis early Thursday, landing in a nearby holding pond and trapping five children underwater for 25-45 minutes until a tow truck could pull it out, authorities said.
The Minnesota State Patrol identifies the driver as 23-year-old Marion Guerrido, of Brooklyn Center. She was not seriously injured.
But the Patrol says the five children were seriously injured. They're identified as 1-year-old Aliyana E. Rennie, 5-year-old Zenavia C. Rennie, 6-year-old Zarihana M. Rennie, 5-year-old Amani N. Coleman-Guerrido and 7-year-old Alarious M. Coleman-Guerrido. All are from Brooklyn Center.
They're hospitalized at Hennepin County Medical Center and the University of Minnesota Amplatz Children's Hospital in Minneapolis. Their conditions have not yet been released.
The crash happened about 6:16 a.m. in St. Louis Park, a western Minneapolis suburb. Roeske said the car veered left off the ramp from Highway 7 to Highway 100 and plunged down a slope into the pond about 40 to 50 yards from the roadway. He said there was no guardrail separating the pond from the ramp.
Passersby who saw the car attempted to rescue the children, but it was submerged in 8 to 9 feet of cold water. Roeske said he was told one good Samaritan stood on the roof of the four-door sedan, and the "incredibly cold, nearly freezing-temperature water" was up to his neck, which would have made it difficult for anyone to reach the children.
The city fire department and the Hennepin County sheriff's dive team responded and used tow trucks to pull the sedan out of the water.
"Once the vehicle was removed from the water, we found that there were five other occupants, all children," he said.
It wasn't immediately clear how long the car was in the water before the children were removed from it, he said.
Roeske also said it wasn't clear whether speed was a factor in the crash. The road was wet from light mist, but not icy, he said. He said there was no indication that the woman intentionally drove into the water.