Woman dies after car plunges into Cooper City canal
COOPER CITY - A mother is mourning the loss of her daughter who died when she crashed into a Cooper City canal early Wednesday morning.
The Broward Sheriff's Office said around 6 a.m. they received a 911 about a vehicle going into a canal off Griffin Road at SW 90 Street, just east of Palm Avenue. The caller said his girlfriend had died.
When sheriff's deputies and fire rescue arrived they found the car had slammed through a barrier on a bridge that spans the canal and ended up in the water.
"The Broward sheriff's office dive team was called out and an immediate search was undertaken to try to locate the vehicle and anyone who may have been in that vehicle in the water," said sheriff's spokesman Carey Codd.
The sheriff's office said the man who called had been a passenger in the car, he was able to make it out of the vehicle. The man was taken to a nearby hospital and is expected to be okay.
The driver of the car, identified as 23-year-old Caitlyn Herron by her family, did not make it out.
Sheriff's dive teams searched the water, found the car and Herron, but were unable to save her.
"Obviously when a vehicle enters a waterway, it is a very difficult and time consuming and sensitive process. The initial goal is to try to rescue anyone who can be rescued and who can be saved. Obviously, this water is very murky. There's a lot of challenges with going into a waterway to try to conduct that type of rescue operation," said Codd.
The sheriff's office closed the westbound lanes of Griffin Road from Pine Island Road to the SW 88 Terrace for several hours while the car was removed from the water. Her distraught family watched from the canal bank.
"She had so many plans for the future. She was going to start 2025 off great. She was saving money, she was paying for her own car, being responsible, she was a beautiful person," Herron's mother said through tears. "I just pray to God that he's got his arms around her, that's all I can say."
What led to crash is under investigation.
