One of things I will miss in my departure from Channel 9 is WUSA9.com’s Emily Cyr finding gems like this one and posting them to the video player. This story should be played everywhere. People need to hear how 76-year-old Eva Rubino handled herself, talking to 911 while trapped inside a car with water rising over her chest as the vehicle was sinking in a canal. She is my hero.
Instead of panicking and screaming, Eva Rubino remained calm and did her best to answer the questions from the 911 call taker in Coral Springs, Florida. Providing the information in the manner she did may have meant the differece between life and death.
Coral Springs Police Department spokesman Joe McHugh says the Rubino’s vehicle crashed into a canal in the 10,000 block of NW 29th Street around 4:30 Thursday morning. Here are excerpts from an article by Kimberley Chapin at WFOR-TV:
Diagnosed with two types of cancer, Rubino is accustomed to being in and out of the hospital. But this experience was a new one.
An adamant animal lover, she goes to Mullins Park in Coral Springs everyday around 3 a.m. to feed the cats and ducks. But on Thursday, mayhem broke out when she got in her car to leave.
“I put the car in reverse and the car took off,” she explained. “I tried to get the brakes to stop the car – at least to slow the car; the brakes didn’t move.” Her car plunged into a canal across the street.
Amazingly, she kept her wits about her and took the steps necessary to save her own life. The disabled woman – who is also blind in one eye – managed to call 911 and clearly tell the dispatcher her location and the situation.
Rubino very clearly listed exactly where the car was, “Right in front of Mullins Park, right in the water right next to the old library that’s closed.” After a moment, she added, “Please hurry, its getting higher.”
The first officers on the scene spotted Rubino’s 2001 white Hyundai fully submerged in the canal. Several officers formed a chain while other officers jumped in to rescue her. They used a center punch to break a car window and pulled her out.
Rubino was transported to Coral Springs Medical Center where she is currently listed in stable condition.
When asked why she believed she was able to survive the experience, she responded that God is keeping her around to hopefully reconnect with her family; she has not spoken to them in more than a decade. She has 14 grandchildren that she hopes to get to know.
Also on STATter911 …
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- Good PT or bad PR? Key Biscayne, Florida firefighters make quick exit after TV crew finds out of town tennis match. – October 28, 2011
- Good idea or bad? Fire hydrants to become taxi stands in Downtown Calgary. – May 24, 2011
- Firefighters say rules wouldn’t allow them to go beyond ankle deep to reach drowning man in lake three feet deep. Inquest in UK brings out similarities to Alameda, CA case. – February 22, 2012
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I work parttime as a dispatcher and she was remarkably calm. As for the dispatcher she did the best she could with what she had to work with but her department needs to think about using ProQa by Priority Dispatch. They are many things the dispatcher could have told the lady to do using the “Sinking Vehicle Protocol”.
Still a good job by the dispatcher as the lady survived.