Man charged in accident that left Florida grandma trapped in car

Tillie Tooter is lifted from her car by rescue workers after spending 3 days trapped in her car in a tree above a swamp

FT. LAUDERDALE, Florida (CNN) -- State police have arrested a 21-year-old man in connection with an accident that left a Florida grandmother trapped for three days in her wrecked car.

Lt. D.T. Frith said Scott Andrew Campbell of Hollywood, Fla. faces a felony charge of leaving the scene of an injury crash and filing a false police report.

The victim, 83-year-old Tillie Tooter, was hit from behind on I-595 on August 12 as she drove to pick up her granddaughter at the Ft. Lauderdale airport.

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Her car mounted a three-foot concrete wall and then flipped over the side, where it landed in mangrove trees 40 feet below.

Tooter said she survived on a cough drop, a peppermint candy, a stick of chewing gum and a button, which she sucked on to produce moisture in her mouth.

Scott Andrew Campbell is a suspect in the auto accident that left Tillie Tooter suspended above a swamp in her car for 3 days

She also drank rainwater, which she collected in the pocket of a shiny silver steering wheel cover.

She was discovered by contract cleanup crews who spotted her car from the overpass three days later.

Though witnesses reported the accident, the fire and rescue crews that responded were unable to see her vehicle, which lay partially hidden among the thick, dark trees.

Campbell, the hit-and-run suspect, also filed a police report when officers arrived at his damaged car, about a mile away from where Tooter's car went over the side.

He said he had lost control of his car and hit the concrete wall, police said.

After Tooter was found, investigators went to re-interview Campell at his home, and found that parts of his car had been removed. Thursday, the Broward County Sheriff's crime lab announced a paint-chip analysis linked Campbell's car to the accident.

Woman released from hospital following 3 days trapped in car
August 19, 2000
83-year-old woman on the mend after car plunge into swamp
August 18, 2000

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