Car Lands in Pool; Boy, 2, Rescued

A Corona man rescued a 2-year-old boy from drowning after the car the boy was in plunged into an apartment building’s swimming pool, a police spokesman said Sunday.

John Marquez, 42, jumped into the eight-foot-deep pool in the courtyard of his North Cota Street apartment and pulled Kenneth De Frank of Corona out through the passenger window before the car sunk to the bottom of the pool, Corona Police Sgt. Rick Goldman said.

Kenneth’s mother, Cara De Frank, 21, had parked her car in an alley across from the apartment building so she could collect her mail, leaving the engine running and the boy in the car, Goldman said.

Kenneth apparently climbed into the driver’s seat and put the car in drive, Goldman said. The automobile took off across the alley, burst through a wrought-iron fence and plunged into the pool, he said.

There were no injuries, and Kenneth survived the incident “just fine,” Goldman said. His mother, however, was cited for leaving a car running while parked, which is a traffic infraction.