ER nurse arrested after driving car into pond, child unharmed

LAKELAND (FOX 13) - An emergency room nurse is under arrest after deputies say she drove a car into a pond while a child was inside her car.

Deputies believe the woman was under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

"What was she thinking?" asked one neighbor.

Deputies say Michelle Snover, 33, of Lakeland, was driving the explorer with an 8-year-old inside.

The child was first to get out of the vehicle, and ran to a neighbor's home for help.

"A little girl just came banging on my front door," the neighbor said to a 911 dispatcher.

The woman was about three miles from her listed address.

"Don't go in the water," the caller is heard telling the girl. "Don't go in the water. Look, she is coming out. She opened the door OK, hold on."

Deputies say Snover, an ER nurse at Lakeland Regional, had a BAC of about .14, and that she made little sense as they asked what happened.

"We said, 'but there's your car in the pond,'" said Sheriff Grady Judd. "She said "Yeah, I parked it there. But Uber brought me here', then she begged, 'Can I go home, I have to go home. I am OK, I am OK to drive.'"

The sign outside the retention pond shows there are bigger risks than just drowning, the sheriff saying the end result isn't nearly as bad as it could have been.

"The good news is she didn't kill herself or that 8 year old child."

Judd talked tough about what happened last night, but he did insist she still has a future, despite having already been charged before with DUI.

"I hope Michelle does not lose her job," said Judd. "I hope she learns to behave, sober up, and go back to that emergency room and join all her colleagues who save people's lives."

Deputies did not say where they believe she was coming from or if she is related to the 8 year old girl.

She is charged with DUI and child endangerment and is being held at the county jail.