First Responders Talk About Rescuing 5 Kids From St. Louis Park Pond
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- The sun was not yet up on Thursday morning when the call came into St Louis Park Police Department.
Officer Aaron Trant was among those first on the scene. His first reaction was to jump in and try to save the children.
"When she said there was children in the car, the emotion on our faces, you couldn't even imagine. To hear that and both being fathers, it was difficult," Trant said.
Others shared the same frustration.
"It's hard to describe what that feeling is like. Right at that time, you know you have to wait for the right people to come with the right equipment, and you know there are people inside the car, it's a helpless feeling, but you don't want to just jump in and become part of the problem," one responder said.
The law enforcement described the cold and dark water, and trying to find the children.
"Struggling to hold the child, struggling to push myself through the mud, I don't know how deep it was when a police officer came and took the child from my arms," another said.
Others talked about the fear involved in such a precarious rescue.
NewsRadio 830 WCCO's Susie Jones Reports
First Responders Talk About Rescuing 5 Kids From St. Louis Park Pond
"When you're in a situation like that, you experience a lot of fear and self-doubt, but you put your feelings aside, because you know your patient is feeling a lot worse," one paramedic said.
The 23-year-old woman driving the car, who is mother to three of the children, did not say much to those working to save the children.
"My kids, my kids, save my kids," she said.
Two of the five children in the vehicle have died from the accident, one is still in critical condition and two others are showing some signs of improvement.
The Hennepin County Medical Examiner confirmed Saturday that 5-year-old Zenavia Cloemina Rennie and 7-year-old Alarious Mercelle Coleman-Guerrido both died from complications of drowning.
Both deaths are ruled "accidental."
How the car ended up in the pond is still under investigation.
