Three Dead After Car Plunges Into Canal Near Ft. Lauderdale
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FT LAUDERDALE (CBSMiami) – Three people are dead after a car went into a canal in unincorporated Broward near Ft. Lauderdale.
Sheriff's spokeswoman Keyla Concepcion said they received a 911 call about 4:45 a.m. She said the car veered off the roadway and plunged into a canal at 29th Avenue and 14th Street. Witnesses said the red Jaguar was doing well over 100 mph when it slammed through two chain-link fences and plunged into the water.
"It didn't go through the trees, it went over the top," said witness Michael Karr. "The fence was like a ramp for it."
Keiontae Myers and his friend, along with two women, were in a market down the street from where the crashed happened. The clerk remembered them.
"They were driving around the neighborhood crazy fast, they don't stop when they make the turn, they be going fast down this neighborhood and everybody always makes a complaint to the cops ," said Tim Ibrahim. "I called the cops."
On the store's security video, the Jaguar can be seen speed out of the parking lot at 4:41 a.m.
"It didn't stop, I didn't see no brake lights," said Shanicia Bucknor who was sitting outside with neighbors near the crash scene.
Bucknor said they ran to see what was going on and tried to help.
"I heard a man screaming from the other side, we hurry up and came to the other side," said Bucknor. "I threw the water hose in (to the water) and we heard 'hurry up, hurry up, come in.' We like 'it's deep,' I'm coming in as deep as I could. I threw the rope and he hurried up and got it. We grabbed it and pulled him up on shore, on the bank."
Myers' aunt, Wanda Hodge, said it was her nephew behind the wheel.
Hodge says he told her there was a problem with the brakes as he got closer to the lake.
"He said he just kept trying to mash the brakes and the brakes just gave out, he wouldn't stop," she explained.
Hodge said Myers also tried to save his best friend, Jarvis Mosley, who was one of the three passengers who died.
"He said he was trying to hold on to him and bring him with him. I guess Jabo was over, probably from even before he got to the water, maybe it was too much weight," she said. "That was his best friend, he was trying to save him."
Myers was taken to the Broward Health Medical Center.
Neighbors said sheriff's deputies arrived quickly, but rescue crews were too late to help.
"The police arrived but they couldn't get in the water because they had all this gear on," said one man. "I don't understand. Three lives were in jeopardy and you can't get in the water. We could have made a human chain or something, but they refused to get in the water and told us to get away. It was almost an hour before they got any rescue here, in an hour they're gone."
The sheriff's office defended the time frame.
"It's on-call personnel. So it's just like when you're not working, and your home doing your things, and you receive a call that you have to all of a sudden come in to work, that's the same way that it works," said Concepcion, who added "I don't have the exact response times" when asked by reporters at the scene.
Making the rescue more difficult this lake is filled with a lot of vegetation. It was all over the car as it was pulled out.
"The brush in the lake is very thick. I'm told the weeds are about eight-feet deep, visibility is very low," Concepcion said.
None of the passengers survived. Myers condition is currently unknown.
