Sept. 03--Brian Moody and his wife were driving to the Seminole Hard Rock Casino on Monday when the car in front of them swerved off southbound Interstate 95, then rolled over into a drainage ditch south of Oakland Park Boulevard.
"She was driving in her Honda with a little doughnut tire on it that you're not supposed to go over 45 [mph] on and her car just kind of spun out," said Moody, 42, of Fort Lauderdale. "So we pulled over and a total of four guys jumped in there."
Phenise Louis, 27, of Miami, was trapped inside the overturned 1999 Honda Prelude, which was 90 percent covered by water, mud and foliage, said Michael Clancy, 39, of North Lauderdale. He also pulled off I-95, along with two other drivers, to help after the 12:30 p.m. accident.
"She couldn't get out, so the four of us did all we could to try to lift this car up and get the door open enough to get her out or else she would have drowned, the poor thing," he said.
The car was filling with water and sinking in the mud.
"You could hear her banging on the inside a little, but we didn't hear her scream or anything," Moody said. "We were able to open [the door] an inch and we just kept pulling and pulling and pulling for what seemed like forever."
The door opened just enough for him to reach in and touch Louis.
"All of a sudden she spun around and got her face out of the water so she could breathe," he said.
The rescuers took deep breaths and pulled the door open about eight inches.
"Luckily she was skinny, about 90 pounds, and she climbed out of that thing," Moody said. "She didn't want to wait for that door to open any more. She squeezed out this little tiny hole."
Clancy carried her up the embankment to Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue crews.
"She was in shock," he said. "She had some kind of injury to her hand and some type of bruised hip, but the paramedics said she'll be all right, she'll pull through."
Louis called Moody when she was released from the hospital. "She [said she] was really scared and she was lucky and happy," he said. "It was real nice."
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