BSO Deputy Wades into the Intracoastal to Help Injured Girl
March 26, 2008
When a 16-year-old girl was thrown from a truck over a bridge during an early-morning rollover crash on East Atlantic Boulevard, BSO Dep. Richard Van Der Eems arrived on scene to hear her screaming from the Intracoastal Waterway below. He made his way down to the water’s edge in the dark and saw the injured, frightened girl in two feet of water. Dep. Van Der Eems rushed into the cold water and tried to keep her warm and calm until paramedics arrived. She was bleeding profusely and had a broken leg, but the girl seemed more worried about facing her parents than anything else. The circumstances of the crash are still under investigation.
Photo Caption: Dep. Richard Van Der Eems has worked for BSO since 1999.
Sheriff Al Lamberti announces a joint effort between BSO, Coral Springs Police Dept., and the State of Florida Department of Environmental Protection on March 26th to recover vehicles from Broward canals. Many of the recovered cars are a result of insurance fraud, disposed of in the canals by their owners who then report them stolen. By mid-morning, over two dozen vehicles, mostly reported stolen, were located by BSO divers and pulled from the C-14 Canal that borders Tamarac and Coral Springs. In addition to the financial impact, felt by all Floridians who carry car insurance, the cars have an environmental impact. The sunken vehicles leak gasoline, motor oil, battery acid, transmission fluid, antifreeze and other toxic chemicals into the water. Car thieves or defrauding owners will face an additional felony charge if they can be tied to an automobile improperly disposed of in the water. Sheriff Al Lamberti said at the news conference “Anybody who pays for auto insurance or cares about the environment should be angry about this.” Lamberti added “When I was a diver almost 30 years ago, we used to dive in this very canal because it was a popular place to dump cars.”
Joining Broward Sheriff Al Lamberti (at right) for the announcement are Coral Springs Police Chief Duncan Foster (left) and DEP Division of Law Enforcement Director Henry Barnet (center).
Photo by Mike Jachles/Broward Sheriff’s Office
