Car Rescued While Dangling From a Bridge

A car dangling off a bridge with a mother and her children inside sounds like a scene out of a Hollywood movie, but it was all too real. INSIDE EDITION has details on the frightening rescue.

It was the heart-stopping rescue the whole country is talking about, of a schoolteacher and her two children, trapped in a car dangling 100 feet from a bridge.

INSIDE EDITION is learning an astonishing detail about the 10-week-old baby in the car. Rescuers say the baby slept through the entire life-threatening ordeal.

One Santa Barbara fighterfighter, Greg Nuckols told INSIDE EDITION, "I took the baby out first and just pulled out the car seat."

It began when a big rig truck crashed into a BMW carrying Kelli Groves and her children across a freeway bridge near Santa Barbara. The truck plunged into the creek bed, leaving the car dangling over the side.

"We don't have a safety net, there is nothing below us," said another firefighter, Ray Navarro.

But in the midst of disaster, a stroke of luck, a team of U.S. Navy Seabees happened to be in the area with a huge forklift, which they used to support the dangling car.

"She was scared. She said 'Please take care of my children','' said Nuckols.

After an hour that felt like an eternity, the whole family was at last removed from the vehicle.

Ten-year-old Sage seemed terrified as she was taken to a rescue helicopter.

Sadly, truck driver Charles Allison Jr. died when his rig hit the ground and burst into flames.

But for a schoolteacher and her daughters, this truly was a miraculous rescue.

"She was very calm, very confident. She is a strong woman," said Knuckles.