DRAMATIC VIDEO: Utah Baby River Rescue
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Body camera catches incredible rescue of Utah ‘miracle baby’
By AMY R. CONNOLLY
SPANISH FORK, Utah, March 14 (UPI) — Rescue workers plunged into an icy Utah river and struggled to remove a door off an overturned van to rescue a toddler trapped in the vehicle for some 14 hours.
In dramatic body-camera video of the rescue, emergency workers are seen rushing the child, later identified as Lily Groesbeck, up the steep rocky incline of the Spanish Fork River to a waiting ambulance. Along the way, one of them realized she was alive.
“You got her? Pass her up! Pass her up,” one responder can be heard shouting as the toddler was pulled from the wrecked vehicle. “Come on baby. She’s definitely hypothermic.”
Authorities said the girl’s mother, Jennifer Groesbeck, 25, was driving the Dodge van when it hit a cement barrier in the road and landed on its roof in the river. The overturned vehicle wasn’t discovered for about 14 hours. Groesbeck was found dead.
The child was strapped into a car seat, which kept her out of the frigid waters. Lily was taken to a local hospital in critical condition, but has since been released.
“She seems to be doing great,” said Officer Jason Howard of the Spanish Fork Police Department. “We were able to get together with her and her family. She was happy and smiling. Seemed to be a normal and happy, healthy baby.”
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