Woman, 83, Survives Crash Trapped Above Swamp

An 83-year-old woman was found alive in her car Tuesday, three days after it crashed off a bridge into a snake-infested swamp. She told rescuers she was able to survive by collecting rainwater.

Tillie Tooter’s car was discovered by a member of a road cleanup crew who noticed mashed-down trees beside the Interstate 595 bridge over the swamp and stopped to check. Justin Vannelli spotted her car 40 feet down.

“I saw someone moving inside there, so I called the cops,” Vannelli said.

The car wound up suspended by mangroves and other vegetation about a foot above the shallow water.

“This is a swamp filled with snakes, bugs and probably an alligator or two,” Fire-Rescue Division Chief Stephen McInerny said. If the car had not been caught by the trees, she would have drowned, he said.

Within an hour of Vannelli’s call, rescuers freed Tooter and lifted her to safety.

She was covered with bruises and insect bites and severely dehydrated but was expected to survive, said Dr. Moshe Stav, who treated her at Broward General Medical Center.

Tooter told rescuers she used an aluminum steering wheel cover to collect rainwater for drinking, McInerny said.

“This 83-year-old lady had it all together,” he said. “That may have made a difference between surviving and dying.”

The car had gone over the guardrail, possibly after being hit from behind by someone who never stopped.

Tooter told a relative the car flipped three times after it went over the bridge, hospital spokesman Sara Howley said. After coming to rest, Tooter said, she was hanging from her seat belt, which she then unfastened.

“She was saved by her seat belt,” Stav said. “She would have had facial and chest injuries but those were prevented.”

Tooter disappeared early Saturday while driving to Fort Lauderdale to pick up her granddaughter Lori Simms and Simms’ boyfriend, who were arriving by plane from New Jersey.

After Simms called police to say her grandmother had not arrived, police searched for her in canals and lakes and along highways.