ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — A woman who was trapped underwater Monday morning in a Scion XB for over 30 minutes died at the hospital Monday afternoon. The vehicle was traveling south on the 417 Expressway when it went off the road near Lee Vista Boulevard and went into a retention pond.
Three eyewitnesses, 44-year-old Steven Wallach of St. Cloud, 47-year-old Ricardo Alvarez of Orlando, and 40-year-old Hector Sotomayor of Orlando jumped into the water to try to save the woman. One of the good Samaritans said he nearly drowned when he dove into the ice-cold water to try to get the young woman out of her car. He was also in the hospital Monday night.
AT THE SCENE: Crews Search In Pond
Troopers say the Scion XB, driven by 26-year-old Sparkle Corinee Pomeroy of Orlando, crossed every lane of traffic on the 417 Expressway in Orange County before rolling and sinking into the retention pond. Several cars had to swerve out of the way to avoid getting hit.
"Those people are actually the ones who jumped out of their vehicles and tried to save them," Kim Miller of the Florida Highway Patrol said.
One of the three good Samaritans said he tried but couldn't get to the young woman trapped in the driver's seat, as much as 14 feet below the surface.
WFTV spoke with a driver, Ralph Colatrella, who rescued another driver who was trying to save Sparkle. Colatrella says he jumped in to try to save one of the good Samaritans who nearly drowned himself.
"There was another going back into the water, that's the guy I pulled out," Colatrella said.
"They're true heroes for what they attempted to do. Unfortunately, the car was too far down in the water and it was stuck in the mud," Battalion Chief Tammy Wunderly of Orange County Fire-Rescue said.
Divers with Orange County and Orlando fire rescue eventually pulled Pomeroy out of the water, but she'd been under more than 30 minutes. She was rushed to Florida Hospital East in critical condition, but was then transported to Orlando Regional Medical Center where she later died.
Crews found children's toys in the vehicle, so divers kept searching, but eventually determined no one else was in the car.
"We don't know if a medical condition caused the woman to cross the center lines, so we'll try to determine that," Miller said.
Troopers still don't know what caused the driver to lose control. They said the vehicle had front-end damage, but eyewitnesses didn't see it hit anything before going in the water.
Eyewitness News learned Pomeroy just got married in September and had a 4-year-old daughter.