An iPhone distress signal is credited with leading deputies to a vehicle submerged in a Florida canal, the Martin County Sheriff’s Office reports.
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“Dramatic” body camera video shared on Facebook shows deputies arrived at 1:14 a.m. March 1 to find the vehicle upside down in thigh-deep water.
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“The phone alerted them to only the longitude and latitude of the incident,” the sheriff’s office said in a news release.
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“Dispatchers were then able to get a Google map location using those coordinates. … When units arrived to the area, they found a vehicle upside down in a canal. They could hear cries for help coming from inside the vehicle.”
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The frantic video starts at the moment a deputy jumped in the canal and forced the vehicle’s door open.
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Inside, the deputy found the driver shivering as he sat pinned against the dashboard. The 38-year-old driver is heard crying, gasping for breath and showing symptoms of shock.
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“I’m so cold … Can you give me a blanket, please sir? I’m freezing,” he says.
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Multiple first responders eventually surround the flooded vehicle, reassuring the driver and searching for evidence he might be pinned in the car. He was pulled free at 1:28 a.m., the video shows.
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“The victim was transported to the hospital where he is expected to recover,” the sheriff’s office said.
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It’s estimated the driver spent about 20 minutes in the flooded vehicle.
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Apple says the crash alert on phones is “designed to detect severe car crashes” and it will call “emergency services after a 20-second delay.”
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“It’s technology you may not even realize you have, but this dramatic rescue should remind you of its importance, as well as the importance of sharp dispatchers,” the sheriff’s office said.
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“We would like to commend our brave deputies and incredible dispatchers for their perseverance and bravery locating and rescuing this crash victim using only coordinates automatically launched from the victim’s phone.”
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This story was originally published March 2, 2023 07:27 AM.