An Anne Arundel County mother thanked God and rescuers after saving her family's lives in a scary car accident in which their Honda Pilot was found sinking in the pond of Severn Park.
CBN News reported that the family has been thankful for God's protection during that terrifying moment.
The mother of the two children, Erica Contreras, told WJLA News in an interview, "Thanks to God and to (the police officers) and the firefighters we are okay. Nothing happened to my girls or us. But the truth is I did not think I was going to live to tell this story."
She added, "It was a good thing they arrived incredibly fast to rescue us. Because the truth is I was very afraid." The Honduran native mother answered in Spanish and was later on translated into English by the news outlet.
Lt. Dion Tilghman told WMAR News, "We were able to see that the children were okay and the children were reunited with their family and that was definitely a good feeling."
Fox News reported that the accident occurred when the vehicle lost its control on Donaldson Avenue and bumped off the road through trees and a fence before becoming half-flooded in a drainage pond in the park. Police said at approximately 9:15 p.m. on Friday, Lt. Dion Tilghman, an officer who was on watch in Severn-Danza Park heard of a crash in his proximate vicinity.
Based on the report, four people have been trapped inside, then the water began to fill the vehicle. The officers stirred quickly to perform a rescue of the four occupants, which included a 9-month-old and 3-year-old child.
"They were starting to bang on the glass. We could see the van was starting to take on water as well," said Lt. Tilghman.
"I'm sure that's a terrifying incident. Your vehicle is filling up with water. It's up to the windows and you have two men with a sledgehammer breaking open your car's windows," said Officer Seth Ballard, who came to back up Lt. Tilghman.
As shown in the video captured, officers had to smash the passenger windows of the vehicle to get access inside. They took the children to safety first and went back to rescue the adults. Police said that aside from being cold and wet, no one involved was injured.
"I'm glad we were there. We were able to render help as quickly as we were. Being a father, I can only imagine how scary it was for the parents to realize how much danger the children were in, especially at such a young age," said Lt. Tilghman.
"When I took this job, I knew I'm going to help people. That's what I knew. I deal with car crashes every single day. I deal with incidents every single day where people need help. This incident didn't take much thinking," said Ballard.
However, after the rescue operation, police arrested driver Oswaldo Ramirez-Lopez, the children's father with several warrants, including reckless driving and allegedly not having a license.
