JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A dramatic and desperate effort to save a child from a submerged vehicle is captured on the body cameras of dozens of officers with the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office.
The search began moments after the April 2022 crash, police say.
JSO says Pamela Cabrera drove into a retention pond with her 5-year-old daughter, Vanity, in the passenger seat. Cabrera did not have custody of the girl at the time and police were responding to a reported kidnapping.
A high-speed car chase that began a half-hour earlier on the city's Northside ended at the intersection of 9B and I-95 where, as one officer noted, she “didn't even hit the brakes.”
Cabrera is charged with vehicular homicide and aggravated manslaughter of a child, among other charges. She has pleaded not guilty. Her case is currently on hold, after she was deemed mentally incompetent to stand trial.
Body camera footage from the incident was provided last year to Cabrera’s attorneys as part of the State Attorney’s Office required discovery disclosure. It was released to First Coast News Thursday, seven months after it was requested.
The hours of video show the split-second response of Jacksonville Sheriff’s Officers following the crash, with several leaping into the pond to search for vehicle occupants. Some paused to remove their uniforms, but others jumped in: boots, bodycam and all. The footage follows search efforts on land and underwater. It documents early confusion, as responders puzzled over whether Pamela Cabrera was suspect or victim, and her agonized screams as she is pulled ashore and handcuffed.
The videos also show the physiological impact of the response, with some officers sickened or stricken by the intensity of the exertion.
They also capture, from multiple angles, the moment a ranking officer on scene realizes the “second person” he's looking for -- the child -- is, as officers tell him, “In the car, still.”
“S***,” he whispers, bringing his hands to his head.
Despite police efforts, the rescue was unsuccessful.
Not that everyone on scene knew that. An officer late to the scene is assigned to monitor one who went in the water.
“I hope that kid is.....” she begins.
“The kid’s dead,” he cuts her off, tersely. “The kid’s dead.”
After a moment he adds, “It’s like an 8-year-old child. That's why I wasn't going to let go. That's why I wasn't giving up.”
Cabrera is due back in court in March.