Child Rescued From Canal After Late Night Crash

STANISLAUS COUNTY – Officers with California Highway Patrol are investigating a crash that happened east of Hickman late Saturday night, after a vehicle crashed into a canal trapping a child.

At about 11:00pm emergency personnel responded to the area of Canal Bank and Arlberg Roads for a report of a vehicle that had crashed into a canal. The area is east of the community of Hickman south of the Tuolumne River.

Deputies with the Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Office and Stanislaus Consolidated Firefighters arrived and located a vehicle submerged in water in the TID Main Canal, with two people sitting on top of the vehicle and a report of a missing child.

A Stanislaus Sheriff Deputy and a Fire Captain were able to free the child from the submerged vehicle and brought her to safety. Life saving measures were performed, and early reports indicated the child is about 4 years old. A request for a medical helicopter was made and a landing zone was cleared in the area.

While emergency personnel were preparing to transport the child by helicopter, it was determined she was too unstable to fly. A flight crew from PHI Medical joined an ambulance crew while she was rushed to a hospital. Sheriff Deputies and Modesto Police Officers closed off intersections for the ambulance as it made its way to a hospital.

According to CHP information, the driver of the vehicle was booked on charges related to driving under the influence. No other vehicles were involved in the crash.