A woman who found herself perched on the roof of her SUV after it slid off a Brampton-area road and plunged into a frozen creek has been charged with careless driving.
Peel Regional Police charged Brampton teacher Patricia Adefarakan, 34, with the Highway Traffic Act late Tuesday afternoon.
The road incident began about 8 a.m.
Peel Region Emergency Medical Services said they received a call that a car had driven into a ditch near Chinguacousy and Duffield Roads.
But the situation was far more serious than that. Rescue crews found the woman sitting on top of her SUV, which was partially submerged in a creek that runs through a ravine near Brampton.
Adefarakan had climbed out of the car through the sunroof.
Tow truck driver Richard Puga was driving by and came to the scene. "The first thing she said is, 'Can you help me?'" he told CTV News.
"I just told her to hang on to the roof rack," he said. After a police officer came on scene, they threw her a winch cable from his tow truck, Puga said.
Video footage captured by a passerby shows the woman sitting on the roof with her cellphone in hand. Rescue crews were able to throw her a life preserver.
A member of Brampton Fire's technical rescue team eventually reached the woman and shuttled her back to shore. The SUV was later towed out of the ravine.
Adefarakan was taken to Brampton Civic Hospital as a precaution, but was released after officials warmed her up and made sure she wasn't seriously injured.
