A 3-year-old is hospitalized after troopers say a driver under the influence crashed a car into a Spalding County lake on Sunday.
First responders pulled the child out of the car and performed CPR.
Georgia State Patrol said a driver in an Acura TL was going at a high speed on Dundee Lake Road and turned into one of the parking lots at the lake. The driver didn’t stop and hit a large boulder, which sent the car through the grass and into the lake.
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The car went underwater. GSP said the driver climbed out and stood on top of the car while a 3-year-old was trapped inside of it.
Speaking with Channel 2’s Tom Regan, Spalding County Fire Chief Mike Byrd said when crews arrived, they saw bubbles coming from where the car was in the water.
A Spalding County deputy and firefighters arrived on the scene and rescued the 3-year-old girl.
“He had a window punch with him,” Byrd said about one of the responders. “He popped out a window on the passenger side of the car and was able to get the child out.”
They performed CPR until the child had a pulse again. Paramedics then airlifted the child to a hospital.
Byrd said they don’t know how long the little girl was underwater.
The chief said they were “guessing as much as six minutes.”
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Byrd told Channel 2 Action News that as of the most recent update, the child was in stable condition.
GSP identified the driver as Nafeeza Samad, 23, of Dallas, Georgia. Samad faces the following charges: DUI, serious injury by vehicle, endangering a child under 14 while DUI, reckless driving, and child safety seat violations.
It is unknown what the relation between the child and Samad is.
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