Good Samaritan rescues mother, 3 kids after car crashes, flips into canal

Add Us On GoogleAdd as a preferred source on Google

MARTIN COUNTY, Fla. (WPBF) - A Florida man is being called a hero for rescuing a mother and her three young children after their car crashed, trapping them upside down in a canal.

A routine drive for Casey Curtis turned into a life-or-death rescue in a matter of seconds last Sunday. A mother driving a Jeep with her three children, ages 8, 2 and 4 months, inside veered off course and crashed upside down into a canal in Indiantown.

Curtis was driving home from work when he spotted the Jeep in his rearview mirror.

“There was somebody behind me I noticed, driving. Then, all of a sudden, I looked up, and they seemed to be accelerating and drove off the side of the road,” Curtis said.

He quickly pulled over and turned around while dialing 911.

Curtis says he followed the tire tracks, which led him to a canal behind a large amount of brush. When he reached the edge of the canal, he could hear children screaming, and he jumped into action.

“I got to the car, opened up the door, and there were three kids sitting there, staring at me, helpless,” Curtis said.

Good Samaritan Casey Curtis climbed into a crashed car to help a mother who veered off the... — Good Samaritan Casey Curtis climbed into a crashed car to help a mother who veered off the road and flipped into a canal after suffering a seizure. He held her head above water until first responders arrived.(Source: Martin County Sheriff's Office, WPBF via CNN)

He says the mother, who was unresponsive, was still buckled into her seat, and her head was underwater. He quickly got the kids to safety on the bank while he climbed into the Jeep to help their mom.

“I lifted the mom’s head up out of the water, and she wasn’t breathing,” Curtis said. “I gave her a breath, and as soon as I gave her a breath, she started breathing again.”

First responders arrived and helped Curtis get the mother out of the vehicle. The family of four was rushed to Lawnwood Medical Center.

Family members say the three kids are OK, but their mother, Shyenique Wilkins, remained hospitalized on a ventilator, as of Tuesday afternoon. She suffered a seizure before the crash, according to investigators.

Looking back on the incident, Curtis says he thanks God he was in the right place at the right time.

“There was nobody around, and there definitely would not have been anybody that would have seen this car for who knows how long. Those kids would not have been able to open that door or bust the window out, so there’s no way of them surviving,” he said.

He’s asking the community to keep Wilkins in their thoughts and pray for her recovery.

A GoFundMe has been set up to help the family with medical costs.