Miami Herald- A teenager watched his mother slip away Sunday morning after he, his father and a collection of strangers did all they could to save her life.It happened about 11:45 a.m., after the family had stopped at a strip mall near West 12th Avenue and 68th Street in Hialeah to get cash from an ATM, said police spokesman Detective Eddie Rodriguez, who gave this account:
The teen got the keys to the 1996 gray Isuzu Rodeo to drive away from the shopping center. His father, 48-year-old Jose Bacallo, strapped himself in the front seat. The teen's mother, Mercedes Hurtado, rode in the back.
As the car pulled away, they spotted vendors selling wares from a van. Thinking his parents might be interested in the merchandise, the teen maneuvered the car onto a patch of grass behind a canal.
He released his foot from the brake pedal. That's when he realized he had not put the car in park. The car slowly rolled into the murky water behind them. The son tried to slam on the brake, but hit the accelerator instead.
The son and father escaped through the windows. But the mother was still in the back seat.
The son, whom police did not identify because of his age, jumped in to save her. But the canal was 12 feet deep, and too murky to see through.
The father tried, too, but to no avail. A stranger jumped in to help, as did a Hialeah police officer. Neither was successful.
Hurtado still had a faint pulse by the time Hialeah Fire-Rescue workers pulled her body out the water. She died after being taken to Palmetto General Hospital. She was 51 years old.
Before television cameras, the son sobbed as family members tried to console him.
''On a Father's Day,'' said Detective Carl Zogby, another Hialeah police spokesman. ``What a terrible day for this to happen.''
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