WINTER HAVEN, FLORIDA — A family of three is more than grateful to be alive after their vehicle plunged into a lake early Saturday morning.
According to Fox 13 News, on March 23, Henry Saint-Hilaire was with his wife and 2-year-old daughter when he was driving his vehicle on First Street.
Police said the steering wheel suddenly locked, sending Saint-Hilaire and his family into Lake Silver.
Ski Team Comes To The Rescue
When members of the Cypress Gardens Water Ski Team saw the car in the lake, they didn’t hesitate to help the family trapped inside.
Kat MacCalla, a member of Cypress Gardens Water Ski Team, said they were “taking a break between acts and all of a sudden, chaos happened.”
Another member of the team, Rosemary Angsten, said they got on their boat, rushed to the car and started banging on the window.
Angsten said they tried to get Saint-Hilaire and his wife to roll down their window or unlock the door, but they did not have a reaction to what they were saying.
According to Winter Haven police, the family speaks Creole and is not fluent in English. They told the Good Samaritans that the family was also in a state of shock.
“I thought that’s it. There’s nothing we can do for them”
As time went by, the vehicle became more submerged under water. That’s when drivers began pulling over and tried to help by attempting to break the window but to no avail.
It was at that time that William Simmons thought there wasn’t anything anyone could do for the family.
