Trapped women, one of them pregnant, saved from sinking car at library pond by Durham police

Durham police officers and a DPD candidate-hopeful riding along in their cruiser rescued two women Wednesday afternoon from their sinking car in a pond next to the Durham County South Regional Library at 4505 S. Alston Ave.

The Honda wound up in the water when its driver, Edwoe Manta, failed to negotiate the turn into the library’s parking lot, struck a tree and lost control, plunging into the pond.

Authorities were alerted to the accident at 2:20 p.m.

When police arrived, the driver and her pregnant passenger, Maude Boateng, were trapped and the car was plunging deeper into the water.

Three police officers — Investigator E.E. Ortiz, Officer K. De La Cruz, Officer A.M. Acker — and David Plitt, a Durham Police Department applicant who was riding in De La Cruz’s car, all dove into the water and saved Manta and Boateng within minutes, police spokeswoman Kammie Michael said.

The car ended up completely submerged. Neither Banta nor Boateng suffered serious injries, but Boatent was taken to the hospital to be examined.

This story was originally published June 29, 2017 at 11:15 AM with the headline "Trapped women, one of them pregnant, saved from sinking car at library pond by Durham police."