Girl, 9, ‘Holding Her Own’ After Aqueduct Crash

A 9-year-old girl who was trapped underwater for more than 20 minutes in her mother’s car “was holding her own” on Sunday at an Antelope Valley hospital, according to family members.

Shanika Lister of Rialto was hospitalized Saturday following a dramatic, underwater rescue by a Los Angeles County firefighter.

Firefighter Ron McFadden dove into the 16-foot-deep California Aqueduct and freed an unconscious Lister from her mother’s car, which had fallen into the water during an accident.

The man believed to be driving the car that caused the accident, Dennis Martin Byrnes, 49, of Lancaster was arrested and charged with felony hit-and-run driving Sunday, said Officer Richard Perez of the California Highway Patrol.

“A witness followed him long enough to get a license plate number,” Perez said.

Byrnes was taken into custody at his residence around 9:15 a.m., Perez said, and booked at Antelope Valley Sheriff’s station.

Family members, meanwhile, kept vigil Sunday near Shanika’s bed.

“She’s got a long way to go, but she’s still with us,” Shanika’s grandmother Barbara Courtney said. “She’s holding her own.”

“We have faith in God,” added Mary Harris, the girl’s aunt. “So we’ve absolutely been praying for her.”

Shanika was a passenger in a 1998 Plymouth driven by her mother, Vicki Lister of Rialto, who swerved to avoid hitting a car heading toward them in the wrong lane of the Pearblossom Highway, west of Palmdale.

Their car crashed through a fence, turned upside down and sank to the bottom of the aqueduct. The girl’s mother and a passenger, Mary Goodley of San Bernardino, escaped and swam to the surface.

But Shanika was trapped by her seat belt in the back seat until McFadden freed her. Authorities estimate the girl was under water for 20 to 25 minutes.

Immediately after her rescue, Shanika was described as unconscious with no pulse. Her lungs were filled with water. Paramedics performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation on the girl, who was listed in critical condition at Antelope Valley Hospital on Saturday night.

Vicki Lister, who was treated for minor injuries, remained at her daughter’s bedside Sunday in the hospital’s pediatric intensive care unit.

Courtney described Shanika as sedated and unconscious. Hospital officials refused to comment on the girl’s condition.