‘Somebody had to act’
Man dives into Boca Raton canal to save unconscious woman in sinking SUV
A woman who was unconscious as her car sank into a Boca Raton canal on Sunday morning is alive today thanks to the quick action of a man who saw the scene unfold and sprung into action.
Not long after 11 a.m. Shawn Turner, 33, said he was driving in his truck near Military Trail and
Camino Real when his 14-year-old son pointed out the window and said, “Dad, there is a car floating out there.”
Turner said he looked over and saw a white Kia Soul submerged in a canal with a passenger sitting in the front seat. Near the edge of the canal were several onlookers, many taking pictures and video with their cellphones.
Turner said he quickly drove up on the curb and down to the canal’s edge. He stripped his pants off and dove into the water, swimming straight for the SUV.
“Somebody had to act because cars don’t float long,” he said.
Turner’s son shot video of his dad in the water as
he approached the car’s windows. In the video Turner yells, “She’s out cold,” to people watching.
After opening the car window, Turner dives head first into the passenger seat of the car and attempts to get the woman out.
Moments later, the car begins to sharply tilt downward and sink into what Turner estimates was a 10-foot-deep canal.
The tenor of the voices near the canal’s edges abruptly shift.
Turner’s son shooting the video begins to shout, “Dad, Dad, jump out!” All around him a squall of bystanders yell, “Get out! Get out!”
Moments later, Turner appears on the other side of the car with a woman in his arms.
Another bystander who jumped in the water held the woman, according to Turner, as he unbuckled her seat belt.
“It was intense,” Turner said, recalling those charged moments.
With the help of other bystanders, Turner was able to get the woman safely to the banks of the canal. He said her car became submerged moments later.
An industrial tow truck later hoisted the car out of the water.
Turner identified the woman he saved as Molly Pedrone.
In a comment left on the video of Turner’s heroics uploaded to Facebook, a woman named Cindy Luedeman confirmed that name and identified herself as Pedrone’s mother.
“I just want to say how thankful I and my family are for you and the other bystanders saving my daughter,” Luedeman wrote in the post. “You are a true hero and we owe you so much.”
Turner said Pedrone’s eyes had rolled back while in the car and that she remained disoriented when first responders from Palm Beach County Fire Rescue arrived at the scene and took her to Boca Raton Regional Hospital.
He said he is unsure of what led to her car ending up in the canal in the first place but guessed that she may have had a seizure.
Turner said he has been in touch with Pedrone and said she was in stable condition aside from bruising on her face due to her hitting the car’s steering wheel.
Turner said he has been praised by many since Sunday and even stopped on the street in Boca Raton, where he was born and raised.
Turner, a surfer, fisherman and licensed plumber, said he went to work on Monday like any other day.
“I managed to help out one lady,” he said. “There are people who do this every day for a living.”
On Saturday, another woman had found herself sinking in her car in Boynton Beach after accidentally driving her Jeep off of a boat slip. She died.