Two small children were plunged underwater in an alligator-infested Florida swamp as a suspected drunk driver tried to escape police after a construction-zone crash.
Isaac Kinsey, 27, allegedly crashed on Highway 33 in Lakeland around 4 a.m. on September 9 after driving through a road-closure sign, hitting sandbags and ending up against exposed tree roots, police said.
Officers arrived at the construction site and found the vehicle empty. The panic started when police checked inside and saw two vacant child-safety seats.
A drone located Kinsey about half an hour later south of the crash scene, moving through a wooded marsh with both children.
Police said the aerial footage showed him carrying a 2-year-old and a 10-month-old baby through the alligator-infested water.
The swamp kept knocking him down. Police said the children went underwater during the falls.
At one point, the footage appeared to show Kinsey leaving the 2-year-old in the swamp while pushing ahead with the infant. He fell several more times after that.
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Body camera video showed an officer racing toward the water after hearing children crying from the woods.
“I could hear them crying in the woods,” the officer said as a baby whimpered in the distance.
Kinsey later came out of the swamp with his hands up. He claimed he “did not know there was a swamp right here.”
The officer ignored the explanation and focused on getting the baby.
He ordered Kinsey to hand over the infant, then coaxed the toddler toward safety.
Both children were brought to a local hospital and released after treatment.
An officer back at the crash scene reacted with relief once word came that the children had been found alive.
“Ooh, thank you God for finding those kids,” the officer said.
Police said Kinsey admitted to being intoxicated and “displayed multiple indicators of impairment.” He also allegedly had a suspended driver’s license.
Kinsey faces three felony charges and eight misdemeanor offenses, including two counts of negligent child abuse with great bodily harm.
Lakeland Police Chief Sammy Taylor told Fox 13 the drone footage was enraging because of how the children were being carried through the water.
“It was just like a doll he was throwing around, and several times [they] went underneath the water,” Taylor said.
Taylor said the video was especially hard to watch as a father and grandfather.
“I’m a father and grandfather, and it just makes your blood boil,” he said.
The Lakeland Police Department said the children could have died in the swamp.
“This incident could have ended with the loss of two innocent lives,” the department wrote on social media.
Police credited the drone team and responding officers with finding the children in difficult conditions and getting them medical help.
“The rapid deployment of Lakeland PD’s drone technology, along with the persistence and teamwork of responding officers, helped locate the children in an extremely difficult environment and get them the care they needed,” the department said.
The department also framed the case as an impaired-driving warning.
“There is no excuse for impaired driving,” police wrote.“We are thankful these children survived and proud of the officers whose actions helped prevent an even greater tragedy.”
In Michigan, floodwater turned a front yard into another roadside confrontation when a driver cut across a homeowner’s property during a heavy storm.
The dispute happened in Dearborn, after severe storms caused flooding in the Detroit Metropolitan area.
A Ring camera showed a woman who identified herself as Lacie steering onto the sidewalk and across an elderly man’s lawn to avoid the water.
The homeowner rushed toward the SUV and slapped the rear window with his hand.
The argument quickly became a shouting match before Lacie rolled up her window and left.
The homeowner later told Fox 2 that Parkinson’s disease affects his body and speech when he gets upset.
“I have Parkinson’s disease,” he told the station. “When I get upset, I start shaking, hard to concentrate and communicating with people.”
He said seeing the SUV come down the sidewalk aggravated the situation.
“I get agitated easily, and it’s all part of the disease, and her driving down the sidewalk like that did not help the situation,” he said.
The homeowner said his bigger worry was an expensive sprinkler system under the lawn, not the grass itself.
Dearborn police confirmed no police report was filed. After the video spread online, the homeowner rejected racist comments aimed at Lacie.
“I know a lot of the comments on Instagram were racial, and I did not appreciate that,” he told Fox 2.
He said the fight was a misunderstanding, not a matter of race. “Had nothing to do with race. It was just two people at the moment who had a misunderstanding,” he said.
The homeowner said he forgave Lacie and that the only property damage was a rut in the grass.
“I have no ill will toward this person. I forgive her. No damage was done to my property other than the rut in the grass and that can be fixed.”
Lacie later told Fox 2 that the Ring footage released online did not show the full confrontation.
“That video, and what he put out, did not show the whole thing,” Lacie said. “He actually called me several more profanities, as well as racial slurs.”
She said the missing portion of the exchange explained why more footage was not released.
“He’s not gonna show you where he hurled all those racial slurs. That Ring camera footage was from afar,” she said.
