Mom suffered a seizure while driving with kids and drove into a river— her 12-yr-old’s quick thinking saved their lives
To be brave and resilient in the face of danger and trouble does not come easy. It requires a lot of strength and determination to put behind the fear and worry and act astutely. A 12-year-old boy, Dwight Martin Jr., did everything in his power to overcome his fear and become the person to save his family after a car accident in West Orange, Texas, per Inside Edition. Martin Jr.’s mom, Jonquetta Winbush, suffered a seizure while driving her son and older daughter and the car went straight into a pond. The boy managed to get out and act immediately to make a life-saving rescue.
Winbush was driving the vehicle with her kids when she suffered a seizure. She lost control of the car and it went headfirst into the pond. A camera footage was shared of the incident, per ABC 7. 12-year-old Martin Jr. managed to jump out of the car, but with his mom and sister inside, he was scared to death. In another interview with the outlet, Martin Jr. shared, “Her foot hit the gas and the car started swerving. I came straight ahead and jumped on the grass.” He recounted that he “got to the street and ran” to find help. The sister reportedly tried to pull their mother out but in vain.
In need of desperate help, the boy frantically ran towards the road and found a police car. A stranger, Epifanio Munguia, also came in to help as a good Samaritan. Martin Jr. begged them for help with tears in his eyes. “She’s having a seizure, she’s in the water,” he said, breathlessly pointing toward the direction of the pond. The cops rushed to help and together with Munguia, they managed to break open the car’s window and open the door to pull Winbush out. “As soon as we opened the front door, I heard I got her and I felt like I’d won the lottery,” Munguia said. Martin Jr.'s 16-year-old sister was also rescued and was fine.
Unfortunately, the mother seemed to have no pulse. The officer quickly administered CPR and hoped for the best. "Every single time the officer would press into her chest, I couldn't feel the pulse and at one point, she just started kind of coming to and so he stopped. We put her on her side and I could feel her pulse back on her wrist,” Munguia recalled. He titled his experience of “seeing her come back to life” as an “incredible” one. The family is fine and safe and has recovered well. It was revealed that Winbush has no recollection of the incident and has to use a walker but is doing well.
The family has set up a GoFundMe for Winbush and her kids to help with the treatment and other losses. Thanks to the generosity of strangers, almost $22,000 has been raised so far. Martin is being commended for his bravery to muster courage and find help despite the unprecedented situation he was in. "He was courageous, he swam out and went and got help. He was trying to save his momma," the good Samaritan remarked.