Woman, 3 children rescued from Round Lake Beach retention pond

Police are crediting two good Samaritans for saving a woman and three children after their car went into a retention pond during a heavy downpour Wednesday night.

Round Lake Beach Deputy Police Chief Michael Scott said the unidentified woman was driving away from a strip mall in the 900 block of Rollins Road just before 9:30 p.m. and thought an overflowing retention pond on the north side of Rollins Road was a continuation of a parking lot.

However, he said, the pond had overflowed from the nearly 4 inches of rain Round Lake Beach received that evening. Thinking the retention pond was a continuation of the parking lot, she drove into the water with her children aged 3, 5, and 7 inside, causing the vehicle to quickly submerge to its roof, Scott said.

"Two good Samaritans who witnessed the incident - Blaine Matthew Smith and Stephen Aversano - swam to the vehicle and rescued the occupants," Scott said.

Scott said no one was seriously injured or taken to a hospital.