Crime & Safety
Five Children Hospitalized After Car Crashes into St. Louis Park Pond
A mother, her daughter, her two sons and two other children were trapped after the vehicle went into a pond at Highway 7 and Highway 100.
Written by Zac Farber and James Warden
A Brooklyn Center woman drove her car into a pond early Thursday morning near the area of Highway 7 and northbound Highway 100.
Marion M. Guerrido, 23, was able to escape the car, but five children—three of them hers—were taken to Hennepin County Medical Center after being submerged under more than eight feet of water for at least 15 minutes, according to the state patrol and St. Louis Park police.
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The first child was removed from the frigid waters about 15 minutes after the car crash. The last victim spent about 45 minutes underwater. All five children are listed as having sustained "serious injury" and are being treated at HCMC and University of Minnesota Amplatz Children's Hospital.
The small, four-door sedan went off the ramp from westbound Highway 7 to northbound Highway 100, police report. The tenant of an apartment building to the northeast of the interchange saw or heard the incident and called 911 at 6:16 a.m.
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The vehicle was completely submerged in the holding pond when first responders arrived.
A rescue effort was already underway by passersby, but they had not been able to remove any of the children from the pond.
"A passerby who jumped in the water was standing on the roof of the vehicle and was up to his neck," said Lt. Eric Roeske of the Minnesota State Patrol. "So you're looking at probably 8, 9 feet deep, incredibly cold, nearly freezing temperature water."
Guerrido's 1-old daughter, 5- and 7-year-old sons and two other Brooklyn Center children, ages 5 and 6, were pulled out of the car while it was being towed out of the water.
Roeske said police are still trying to determine why the car went off the road. The on-ramp has no guard rail between the road and the 40 to 50 yard downwards slope into the pond.
The woman had no apparent injuries.
The state patrol, Hennepin County’s water patrol and sheriff's department and St. Louis Park's police and fire departments all responded to the scene.
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