20 Prom-Bound Teenagers Help Rescue Family From Car Accident

A group of 20 Florida teenagers heading for their prom sprang into action to help rescue a family from a car accident Saturday.

The teenagers were bound for Fort Lauderdale when a van carrying a family of seven overturned in front of them on Interstate 595. The Western High School students helped pulled five adults and two children from the overturned Honda Odyssey.

The driver of the van was heading eastbound on I-595 when traffic slowed down, according to Sgt. Mark Wysocky of Florida Highway Patrol. The driver veered to the left and bounced off a divider, which resulted in the van turning over on its side.

Danny Izzi, president of Avanti Limousines and Airport Transportation, was driving the limo the teenagers were riding in when the van overturned.

“I almost hit them,” Izzi said. “I had to slam on my brakes, but with 20 kids in there it’s really [difficult] to put the brakes on.”

Football player Frank Tucker said, “We kind of reacted to it, ran out of the limo and did what we had to do.”

Peter Kim said said grabbed a 9-year-old boy from the van and tried to help calm his mother.

“We laid her down, and we tried to calm her down. She was just panicking, she was in shock,” Kim told NBC Miami. “She was screaming out, ‘Where’s my baby? Where’s my baby?'”

Kim added, “It felt great that we got to help someone out and that we didn’t just roll on by. I’m happy that I had my peers that actually helped out instead of just sitting there and doing nothing.”

The family was taken to the hospital in ambulances with minor injuries. However, the 2-year-old girl was not wearing a seatbelt at the time of the accident.

The teenagers made it to their prom just 15 minutes late, even though some of them were bloodied from their impromptu rescue mission, which was captured on video.

Even with all that going on, “it was a good prom,” Krista Pulcini said.

What do you think of the teenagers who helped rescue a family from a car accident?