FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. (WSVN) - A driver escaped a watery wreck in a residential Fort Lauderdale neighborhood, witnesses said.
Fort Lauderdale Police and Fire Rescue units responded to reports of a car submerged in a canal behind a house in the areas of Southeast Ninth Street, neat Cordoba Road, at around 8 a.m. on Friday.
Investigators believe the car was likely driven off the residential road.
Neighbors said they saw the vehicle going at a high rate of speed.
7Skyforce hovered above the canal as divers searched for the vehicle’s driver. Marine units were also spotted at the scene assisting with the search.
Witness Trevor Kosowski described what he saw, adding he tried to help the motorist.
“There was a red Nissan about halfway in the water, halfway out, and the next thing we know, we saw the driver somehow get out of the car — I don’t know if it was [through] the trunk, the door — then he started swimming over to this large boat over here,” said Kosowski. “And we offered him to come over to the dock and, you know, try to help him out a little bit, potentially save him if he was injured or anything, and he kinda turned down our help and swam towards the dock over there.”
The driver was not injured. Police said he may have been experiencing a mental health crisis at the time of the incident.
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