PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. – A Charlotte County corporal and two onlookers may have saved two children whose mother allegedly tried to drown them.
The incident happened late Friday, when authorities responded to a single-vehicle crash.
The 21-year-old driver allegedly left the scene, walking to a retention pond while holding her two young children.
When approached, she allegedly jumped into the water and held the children down.
Authorities say Cpl. Emmitt Merritt and the two citizens pulled them out, and the kids suffered no serious damage.
The woman was involuntarily hospitalized under Florida's Baker Act, which provides for psychiatric evaluations of those deemed a threat to themselves or others.
The children, ages 2-years-old and 9 months, were released to the care of their grandparents.
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