ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. — Two 18-year-old women survived a crash after their car went off the road and into a retention pond in St. Augustine over the weekend.
The passenger, who wants to remain anonymous, tells Action News Jax she is still shaken up about what happened.
“I was scared off my a** I couldn’t move my legs, I was literally paralyzed,” the passenger said.
The St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office shared new video Wednesday, showing the car sinking in a retention pond.
In the 9-1-1 call, one of the women saying, “we just crashed into the water ... please hurry there is water coming into the car.”
Early Saturday morning, the women found themselves trapped inside a sinking car.
The passenger said her friend had a long day of work, she was tired, they took a quick power nap and then got back on the road.
They were almost to her home traveling on Holmes Blvd, when …
“There was a car in front of us, and she closed her eyes for a minute and she thought the car was closer than what it was…” the passenger said. “So she started slamming on the breaks, and then she swerved straight into the pond.”
In the 9-1-1, the women said they were scared to get out of the car. The dispatchers responded saying, “I need you to get out of the car, otherwise you’re going to go underwater with the car.”
Deputies arrived within minutes.
In the body camera footage from that morning, you could hear one of the deputies saying, “watch out, watch out. Get out of the car! Get off of the car!”
>>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<<
The passenger said she couldn’t swim. She said she had been in a car accident about a month prior and is suffering from nerve damage so she can’t really feel her legs.
“The moment I stood up on the seat to jump out the window, my legs gave out and I fell face forward into the water,” the passenger said.
While she was struggling to swim, she and her friend found a way to get to the deputies.
Deputy Jayde Glines jumped into the water and created a human chain link.
“If we weren’t there on time, those girls were going to stay in the car,” Glines said.
Some people online were wondering why more deputies didn’t jump into the water to help.
“They weren’t too far from us, so us jumping in could have caused a worse situation, especially because in those types of situations, people are in shock,” Glines said. “So if we go in, and they start jumping on top of us and sinking us down, then we’re in a worse situation trying to now more people out of the water.”
The passenger said she is thankful for their quick response, and glad she made it out.
“I feel proud of myself, like I feel like a genuine survivor,” the passenger said.
Officials said the car sank about 20 feet under water, and they suspect exhaustion to be a contributing factor of the crash.
As for the passenger, she said she still is struggling with feeling in her legs, and will need shock therapy.
[DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks]
[SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter]
Click here to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, click here to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here to stream Action News Jax live.
