South Florida
A Kansas woman driving with her family after a holiday outing died when her van swerved off Florida’s Turnpike and fell into a canal, trapping her inside the submerged vehicle, police said.
Sherry Kaplan, 45, of Leawood, Kan., her husband, and their three children were going to Delray Beach after a day at a water park when the crash occurred, according to a Florida Highway Patrol report.
Kaplan was driving south Thursday evening when the van drifted onto the shoulder, then swerved to the right and overturned in the canal, the report said.
David Kaplan, 52, and the couple’s three children, Danielle, 13, Benjamin, 16, and Matthew, 10, managed to get out of the van and received only minor injuries.
But Sherry Kaplan was stuck behind the wheel of the submerged van, the report said.
David Kaplan and about eight motorists worked to free her, Florida Highway Patrol Lt. Pat Santangelo said.
“The husband was doing CPR on her as we arrived,” said St. Lucie County Fire District spokesman Tom Whitley.
Sherry Kaplan died a short time later at Lawnwood Regional Medical Center, the report said.
