A mother and her three children are alive thanks to the actions of a stranger, as well as the first responders who came to their rescue after their car became submerged in a Florida canal.
The Feb. 8 rescue was caught on body‑camera footage and shared by the Martin County Sheriff's Office. Video shows the chaos in the moments after the family's vehicle flipped upside down into the water, as first responders and passerby Casey Curtis scrambled to reach the victims.
At one point in the video footage, Curtis can be heard urgently coordinating with officers as water rushes into the car.
Curtis said he stopped to help after witnessing the family's vehicle suddenly accelerate and veer off the road in his rearview mirror.
"I heard a child banging on the door, and I heard her saying that 'mom's head's underwater,'" he said in an interview with ABC News. "And once I got that door open then the three kids were just standing there just looking at me, staring, helping, asking for help."
After he guided the children safely to land, Curtis returned to help their mother, who was unconscious.
"I lifted her head up out of the water and she wasn't breathing," Curtis said. "I just thought the only thing I could do was give her a breath. And as soon as I gave her a breath, she started breathing."
Curtis remained at the scene until first responders took over.
"I knew God had my back, you know? He was there helping me out the whole time," he said.
Authorities later said the crash occurred because the mother suffered a seizure while driving.
The unidentified mother was hospitalized and her children sustained only minor injuries.
