Woman Dead, 3 Kids Critical After Car Crashes Into River In Port Huron

PORT HURON, Mich. (AP) — A 26-year-old woman has died and her three children were hospitalized in critical condition after her car crashed into a river in Port Huron, police said.

Officers and firefighters were called to the scene Tuesday afternoon after a vehicle reportedly drove through a parking lot and into the Black River, with a male passenger seen jumping from the vehicle before it entered the river, police said Wednesday.

Divers entered the river and removed the woman motorist and three young children. Officials said the woman, identified as Corey Michelle Pratto, died at a hospital.

Her three children, ages 6, 5, and 3, were in critical condition, The Detroit News reported.

Officials said two of the children, both girls, were taken to an Ann Arbor hospital, and a boy was taken to a Detroit hospital, and that relatives were at their side.

Assistant Port Huron Police Chief Marcy Kuehn said the crash investigation is ongoing and the St. Clair County Medical Examiner's Office would conduct an autopsy on Pratto.

Investigators spoke to the 26-year-old male passenger, Pratto's boyfriend, who told officers she was having problems with the car's brakes.

He said she was unable to stop the vehicle and he tried to shift the gear into park but was unsuccessful, and he jumped from the front passenger seat out of the moving vehicle before it crashed into the river because he cannot swim.

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