‘They kept calling me a hero’: Boy, 14, pulls trapped child out of overturned car in West Boca canal
The following written content by Austen Erblat
BOCA RATON — A West Boca Raton father and his teenage son jumped into action when they saw a car overturned in a canal outside their neighborhood Sunday afternoon.
Yury Shapshal was driving home with his three kids after lunch when they saw people gathered near a canal outside their home at the Oaks of Boca Raton. As they got closer, he saw steam or smoke rising from the canal. When he pulled over, he saw a car upside down with someone at the bank of the canal shouting at someone still stuck inside.
“It was almost entirely submerged in the water,” Shapshal said. “It was obvious there was a child stuck in the car and he was screaming his name. I had three in the car of my own, so that kind of hit me really hard, knowing there’s a child trapped in the car.”
The 44-year-old father sounded as if he choked up and had to take a minute as he recalled the events from earlier Sunday.
“I decided to jump in and my son saw me go in the water and he went right behind me and I’m very proud of him for doing that,” he said. “That’s not what most 14-year-olds would do, I would imagine.”
At this point, a larger crowd had gathered at the shore of the canal, many panicked and unsure what to do, some on cell phones, presumably with 911. Officials said the first 911 calls came in around 5:30 p.m.
It’s not clear what caused the car to end up in the canal. A Palm Beach Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman did not immediately respond to questions.
“A big portion of the guard rail was in the roadway,” Shapshal said. Multiple cars were stopped near the canal, but none appeared to have damage, indicating a collision with another vehicle, he said.
“As a parent of three children, I wouldn’t have been able to live with myself if I just stood by and waited for help,” Shapshal said. By the time they got out of the canal, they called 911, but he could already see emergency vehicles about a half-mile up the road.
Asked if he’d even been in an accident like this or witnessed a situation like that, Shapshal said, “only on television … you’d never imagine that you’d be in that situation and be able to help.”
His son, Samuel “Sam” Shapshal, said he saw steam or smoke coming from the canal and some commotion as his father drove up and parked. “There were no responders yet, so it was just us and some pedestrians that were watching,” he recalled. Read more from Sun Sentinel.
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