Screams in the Darkness: SLP Residents and Rescuers Recount Deadly Pond Car Crash

Around 6 a.m. Thursday, Jeffrey Robertson was watching the morning news in his second-story apartment near Highway 7 and Highway 100 when he heard a woman screaming.

Hurrying onto his balcony, he saw a woman standing in the frigid waters of a holding pond.

“Even in the darkness, I could see a woman standing in water up to her knees,” he told the Star Tribune. “Looking back, everything about her screams told you she was the mother of a child in trouble.”

Robertson called 911 at 6:16 a.m. It wasn’t until 6:55 a.m. that the last of the five children trapped under more than 8 feet of water could be removed by divers from the Pontiac Grand Am. Two of the children, Alarious Coleman-Guerrido, 7, and Zenavia C. Rennie, 5, died Thursday. The other three children, ages 1, 5 and 6, were listed in serious condition as of Friday morning.

Jessica Ressler, who lives near the holding pond, gave KARE 11 her account of the morning.

“She was screaming, we couldn’t hear what she was saying, and then later, eventually, I found out the updates and found out there were kids in the car,” she said. “Got me thinking of my own kids and how the moment can stop at any time, I guess.”

A bystander, Joel Oine of St. Louis Park, was the first to offer assistance, hurdling a 6-foot-tall, chain link fence and joining the woman, Marion M. Guerrido, 23, of Brooklyn Center, in the icy water, where they struggled together in fruitless attempts to reach the children.

"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."

When first responders arrived, they found conditions unfavorable. St. Louis Park fire chief Steve Koering told KARE 11 that the muddy, murky pond was not ideal for a water rescue, with divers feeling blindly around the car.

“Two firefighters were in the pond, in suits, very quickly,” he said. “Firefighters were using their legs and hands, determined that the front window was open, pulled three children out through that, broke the back window, pulled another child out of the back window, all while the car was fully submerged.”

The children were taken to Hennepin County Medical Center and University of Minnesota Amplatz Children's Hospital.

The State Patrol said no alcohol was detected but that Guerrido only had a driver’s permit, which was invalid since she was not accompanied by a licensed driver.