Thirty-seven-year-old Jermaine Broach of Laurel was arrested and charged with public drunkenness, hit and run, no insurance and contributing to the delinquency of a minor in relation to Tuesday’s automobile accident involving two minors.

Broach was a passenger in a vehicle that was driven by Shante Nicole Wilson, 12, before it plunged over an embankment and flipped into a canal with swift flowing water. Captain Tommy Cox of the Laurel Police Department said Broach was apparently teaching the girl to drive. Shanquida Wilson, 6, was also a passenger in the vehicle.

“They are all very fortunate,” said Cox. “We don’t think there were any substantial injuries. Obviously, some one could have been seriously injured.”

Broach, who was arrested at the scene, had fled to a nearby house following the accident, leaving the girls to fend for themselves. Walter Pruitt, 49, and Antonio Adams, 36, both of Laurel rescued the girls from the overturned vehicle.

“Him leaving the girls there says a lot about his character,” said Cox. “That was something.”

Cox said Broach used poor judgment altogether. In addition to the girl being too young to be behind the wheel of a car, Cox said it was “extremely dangerous to try to teach her to drive on a busy city street.

“There are too many cars and pedestrians on city streets,” he said. “People who are allowing kids behind the wheels of a vehicle need to know that they are subject to be charged in the case.

“Things could have been a lot worse in this case, but luckily everyone came out alive,” said Cox.

“There was a man in the car with the girls, but he got out of the car and took off running,” said Pruitt.

“I don’t understand it. He didn’t try to help them get out of the car. He just left them there.”

Adams called the man a coward. He questions how he could do such a thing. He’s thankful, however, that they were able to get the girls out of the vehicle.

“They were going too fast to stop before they went into the water and I just knew they were in trouble,” he said. “That’s why I ran this way.”

When they saw the water in the canal and currents hitting the partially submerged vehicle, they had no second thoughts about going in to rescue the children.

“The youngest child managed to get out pretty much with little help,” said Pruitt. “We had to pull the older girl out.”