Driver sinks into watery hole after hitting fire hydrant

SUMMERFIELD, Fla. (FOX 35 Orlando) - A car was gobbled up by a mud pit early Friday morning, after troopers with the Florida Highway Patrol say a drunk driver smashed into a fire hydrant and seeped into her own sinkhole.

Heroes jumped in to save her, but she wasn’t having it. The good Samaritans say they nearly drowned saving a stranger who didn’t want their help.The car was fully submerged in a puddle 20 feet wide.

Two women were close to death in the wild aftermath of a crash in Marion County, and one woman was arrested for it all.

Marion County Fire Rescue put together the pieces early Friday near State Route 441 and SE 156th Place in Summerfield.  FHP says Alexandrea Runyon drove drunk, hitting a fire hydrant, releasing water and sinking her own car.

“You weren't in the car at all, huh?” a deputy asked one woman on body cam video.“Thank God, I wasn't in the car, because if I was a passenger in her car, I probably would have killed her.”

Shawn Drake rushed to help.

“I see a car with their hazards on which I found kind of odd and then I saw water, just covering the pavement,” said Drake, who was driving home when he passed by the car.

The driver was outside the car at first.

“I said ‘You've been drinking haven’t you? And she says ‘Oh [expletive] you,” said Drake.  “She's trying to make her way back around the car to get back in the car. She plummets into the full water. I don’t know if she's drowning or what."

At this point, Shawn’s mother showed up to help and then she fell in. Shawn tried to save them but the driver got in his way.

“I just hurried up and clung right onto the car tire,” said Dawn Drake.  “He was trying to pull her out from the passenger's side and she wouldn't come out. She had no idea what was going on, what happened, what she did, and here I am. I'm just trying to help.” 

Marion County Fire Rescue showed up and saved the women. It was a close call for Shawn’s mother.

“I lost my dad a few years ago, heart disease. I didn't want to lose my mom. These things happen all the time -- accidents -- but I just can't believe the woman acted in the way she did when all I was trying to do was help.“

Alexandrea Runyon is charged with DUI.