A woman and 6-year-old boy had to be extricated from a car dangling off an overpass embankment following a crash on State Road 408 Sunday morning.
- Woman, child injured in crash
- FHP: Car crossed median, hit wall
- Happened on WB SR-408
Lucilinda Quiles, 27, and Ayden Williams, 6, were traveling westbound on SR-408 in a 2015 Mazda and somehow crossed over a median and hit a wall, according to FHP.
The car wound up dangling off the overpass, over eastbound Kehoe. The child was in a car seat.
Emergency crews extricated both the woman and child from the vehicle, according to FHP.
Orange County Fire Rescue personnel said it was a situation no one could really prepare for.
"It's kind of hard to train for this," said Lieutenant Jeff Hansen. "We can't exactly put a car on the edge of the overpass."
"Working from that environment or that kind of platform, there was a significant possibility for the personnel and the victims to step on the broken glass, to slide," said Battalion Chief Christopher Henedy. "And while the vehicle was stabilized, it still had a potential for our personnel or the victims to potentially fall that 15-20 feet."
The crew had to make sure the car was stabilized before going in. They used special slings capable of holding thousands of pounds to secure the vehicle in place.
The team then broke the rear glass of the car to take the victims out.
"On highway speeds you look at the vehicle and how it got there, and it's just amazing what can happen," said Henedy.
Quiles was taken to Orlando Regional Medical Center. The child was taken to Arnold Palmer Children’s Hospital. Both sustained only minor injuries, according to FHP.
Quiles was ticketed for careless driving.
(David Yates, Staff)