A grandmother, her daughter, and toddler granddaughter died after the car they were in plunged into the Seekonk River in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, on Sunday. Floridalma Arceno, 45, made a frantic final phone call to her husband, Josue Gomez, as the vehicle sank.
Arceno had been teaching her daughter, Linora Sucely Gomez, 22, to drive, with the 2-year-old granddaughter Ana also in the car. According to her last call to her husband, the brakes on the vehicle failed. "It won't brake, it won't brake," Arceno told Gomez, which was the last thing he heard from her.
Josue Gomez, upon hearing his wife's distress, rushed to a nearby boat ramp, but the car was already submerged. Emergency services were alerted around 7:30 p.m. on Sunday. A bystander on a jet ski attempted to assist but was unable to reach the family.
Rescue efforts continued into the night but were hampered by poor visibility. On Monday, a dive team located the car and it was subsequently pulled from the river. The bodies of the three victims were recovered and transported to the state medical examiner's office.
Police Chief Tina Goncalves described the incident as a "tragic accident." Preliminary findings from officials indicated that the car was operating normally, and they could not speculate on the cause of the failure. "Our thoughts remain with the family as they navigate this devastating loss," Goncalves said.
Pawtucket Mayor Donald Grebien expressed the city's support for the grieving family. A GoFundMe campaign has been established to help the family with funeral expenses and other immediate costs, raising over $8,000 as of Tuesday morning.