Car crash and alligators

Mar 11, 2005
Contributor: Kate Anderson

Ana Maria Amaya lost control of her car, went airborne la The Dukes of Hazzard, splashed down in a canal, wriggled free of the sinking car, brushed past a pair of alligators giving her the evil eye and thrashed her way to the opposite canal bank, where she was rescued by fishermen.

And still she made it to work on time.

The Pembroke Pines woman showed up for work at Don Burrito in Miami-Dade promptly at 4 p.m., the start of her waitress shift, not mentioning her earlier ordeal.

Amaya, 32, was taking a quick early-morning drive across Alligator Alley to pick up her husband from Naples when her silver-blue 1989 Mercury Grand Marquis nudged a 2005 Gold Malibu Chevrolet in front of her at mile marker 32.

It was around 9 a.m. Witnesses told Florida Highway Patrol troopers Amaya's car swerved out of control and veered toward the median. Amaya over-corrected and the car went airborne through a fence and slid into a canal beside the road.

''It was like the Dukes of Hazzard,'' said Don Schild, of Quakertown, Pa., whose car Amaya bumped. ``It was amazing.''

Schild and his wife, Beth, who were on their way to Englewood, where they own property, watched in their mirrors as the car flew into the canal. Don Schild thought: ``Oh, my God!''

The couple called 911 from their cellphone and stopped to help, as did several other witnesses, who stared in horror as the car started to sink.

Gary Daniel, an insurance adjuster from Amarillo, Texas, ran to the canal bank past the roadside fence.

He yelled to Amaya, who had scrambled to the window's ledge, to get out before the car sank. Then he spotted two alligators.

He said he thought, ``Oh, great! Now I'm going to have to go in and get her.''

Amaya climbed out of the sinking car and started to make her way to the Everglades side of the canal.

But first she returned to retrieve her purse.

It contained her immigration papers. Amaya, who says she can't swim, is from El Salvador. After making her way to the canal bank, Amaya stood, dripping, in six-foot-tall sawgrass, biting her nails and waiting to be rescued.

''She was so calm and cool,'' Beth Schild said. ``It was amazing.''

It was then that the gravity of the situation sank in.

''I was scared,'' Amaya said. 'I thought of my son and daughters, and I said, `I have to get out of here.' ''

Within minutes, Broward County Fire Rescue arrived.

But two nearby fishermen in a boat motored to the rescue. They pulled Amaya aboard, dropped her off on the embankment near the highway, then headed off, away from the commotion.

''We all went over to see how she was holding up,'' said Beth Schild. ``She just kept thanking us over and over again. She was so nice.''

Amaya's family said a state trooper took her home so she could change and later get a ride to work, despite a scratched arm and sore back.

Her husband, Mateo Moreno, rented a car to get across South Florida. Moreno and the three children, thankful that she was safe, gathered at Don Burrito, 18464 NW 67th Ave., later Monday for a celebratory dinner.

Because her cellphone had been soaked in her purse, Amaya could not call her husband until she reached safety.

'She called me and said `I can't pick you up,' '' Moreno said.

'I said `Why?' and she said 'I crashed. I went into the water.' ''



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