Stranger Saves Mom and 3 Kids From Submerged Car in Canal

Casey Curtis was driving on a quiet Sunday in Martin County, Florida, when he saw something terrifying in his rearview mirror. The car that had been following him suddenly accelerated, veered off the road, and disappeared into the bushes.

Curtis slammed on his brakes and called 911 while following the tire marks through the roadside brush. What he found made his heart stop: a Jeep flipped upside down, half-submerged in canal water.

"I got to the car, opened up the door, and there were three kids sitting there, staring at me, helpless," Curtis told local news. The children, ages 8, 2, and 4 months, had been crying for help.

Their mother's head was underwater. Curtis grabbed the kids first, getting them safely to the bank before wading chest-deep into the canal.

"I lifted the mom's head up out of the water, and she wasn't breathing," Curtis said. He gave her rescue breaths until she started breathing again.

The mother, Shyenique Wilkins, had suffered a seizure while driving with her three children. First responders rushed the family to the hospital, where the children were mercifully unharmed.

Wilkins remained hospitalized on a ventilator. Her niece set up a GoFundMe to help with medical bills, which has raised $4,100 toward a $10,000 goal.

Sunny's Take

Curtis keeps saying he was just in the right place at the right time, but it took more than timing to save this family. It took courage to run toward danger, clarity to act fast with three frightened children, and compassion to risk his own safety in that canal water.

The road was empty that day. Anyone driving by later wouldn't have seen the Jeep past the tree line. These four people are alive because one stranger chose to look back and then refused to look away.