'Our mommy's trying to kill us': Police interviewed and released pregnant mom just HOURS before she drove her three children into the ocean, prompting dramatic rescue



Rescuers pulled three children - age three, nine and 10 - from the minivan in Daytona Beach, Florida after it drove into the ocean



Witness heard a child shouting 'our mommy's trying to kill us, please help'

The unnamed mother admitted to a local hospital for mental health exam and is refusing to cooperate with police



A pregnant mother accused of deliberately driving herself and her children into the ocean in a murder-suicide attempt was interviewed by Florida police just hours before - but officers let her return to her young family.

The unidentified woman's family called Daytona Beach Police to report her acting strangely just hours before the incident, Wesh.com reported.

Deputies have now confirmed an interview took place on Tuesday morning after dramatic footage emerged of rescuers rushing to save the children from the submerged car on Daytona Beach on Tuesday afternoon.



Witnesses report hearing the children - two girls and a boy, aged three, nine and 10 - screaming that their mother was trying to kill them.



Rescuers wade out to the stricken minivan after it turned sharply and drove into the ocean

Race against time: The rescuers managed to grab all the children from the car as it was submerged in the surf

Rescuers open the rear door of the hatchback and pull one of the children clear

In the video several men frantically try to get to the small child through the hatchback and the driver's side door as waves lap over the front of the minivan

The 31-year-old from South Carolina is now undergoing a mental evaluation at an unidentified Florida hospital.



Police say there is still a possibility there was a medical emergency which forced her to drive onto the beach but onlookers described the car's route as deliberate.



The footage also shows the mother was physically able to escape the vehicle.



Tim Tesseneer, of Rutherfordton, North Carolina told WESH 2 he was one of the first rescuers to reach the children after the mother made a sharp turn off the road and drove into the ocean.

He said: 'The two in the back seat were crying, with their arms out saying "Our mommy's trying to kill us, please help".'

Video of the rescue shows a lifeguard carrying two children away from the sinking van when the children tell them there was another child inside.



'The kids are like, "No there's a baby. There's a baby",' Mr Tesseneer added. 'She (the mother) wouldn't say a word. She didn't tell us nothing about a baby.

'She had this look on her face, I can't describe it. It was just an awful blank look, like spaced out look.'

Video shows that the mother appears disoriented and walks away from the minivan, with the child still inside

In video taken by Simon Besner, a tourist from Canada, the woman can be seen outside the van as lifeguards try to pull her children from the vehicle.



Witnesses described her hopping out of the car window as her screaming children remained seat-belted in the back. Waves nearly pushed her under the van.



'It was a bit terrifying,' said Besner.

In the video several men frantically try to get to the third and youngest child through the hatchback and the driver's side door as waves lap over the front of the minivan.

The small child is eventually pulled to safety .

Another tourist described watching with horror.



'My friend pointed out that there was a car getting really close to the beach and actually started driving on the water,' Taylor Quintin visiting the area from Vermont told Local 6.



'I saw a kid in the back waving his arms around screaming, 'Help us! Help us!' And the car kept going deeper.'

'That's when I saw a guy from the beach run over next to the car and take out two small children and walk them back up. Another guy ran out and brought a little toddler out of the car'.

Many added that there was no way the incident was an accident.



'When she first was drifting into the ocean, we thought maybe an accident,' Donna Pratt told the broadcaster.



'But when the bystanders went to help, she clearly went deeper into the ocean. She drove right toward it, so it's hard to believe it was an accident.'

Officials said the children would be turned over to a relative in Orlando once released from Halifax Hospital where they are being treated for minor injuries.

The car was later towed from the ocean.

Police will now decide whether the mother should face criminal charges.

