If a woman did not have her cell phone with her when her
car plunged into a canal on 29th street in Coral Springs
at 4:41 am, she would have drowned.
Very early every morning, Eva Rubina, a nice 76 year old lady drives
to the Coral Springs Teen center located at 10013 NW 29th street, on
the north Side of Mullins park and feeds the ducks and stray cats.
She has been doing this for years. However on this
Thursday , June 3,2010 after
getting back into the car putting into reverse , somehow it
went out of control, flinging backwards to the other side of the street ,
where the old Broward County Library used to be, climbed the
sidewalk, running over a metal bench , and launching through
palm hedges plunging into the canal.
No one was around to see this.
The palm hedges folded back as if nothing happened.
The Guard rail was not long enough to protect her from plunging into
the canal
Her car started to sink, and the water level in the car started
to rise. She was trapped. Her doors did not open. She had one chance. Her Cell
Phone. She dialed 911 and a Coral springs dispatcher answered
and directed the officers to the location.
While on the cell phone talking to the dispatcher, she did not
panic. The car started to sink, and when the water was filling
up. Eva's
2001 white Hyundai had fully submerged in a canal with her
trapped inside. The water as the water level rising above
her head, the cell phone call drops, and she started to drown.
At the same moment , Coral Springs Officers arrived at the area,
located Eva's car and Several officers immediately
formed a chain while other officers entered the canal to rescue Rubino. They used a center punch to break a window of the car
saved Eva Rubino's life.
She is resting comfortably at the hospital. No doubt she will
always have her cell phone by her side!
This was a good story with a happy ending that I was happy to
right. However the bigger problem here is yet another car
is allowed to dive into a canal due to poorly engineered guardrails.
The city has many dangerous canals close to streets.
Eva was lucky this time. Three teenagers died a few months ago (
click here) were not so lucky.
Had Eva not had her cell phone, there would have been no
way the police would have been able to save her, and she would
have been one of those people gone missing and later found at
the bottom of a canal.
How many other deaths are going to occur in
this city until we secure our canals and demand from the
government that the guardrails around canals become up to
standards?
