iPhone App Helps Cops Rescue Woman After Her Car Plummets Down Ravine
— -- A woman whose car flipped 500 yards down a remote ravine in northern California was rescued today after her family reported her missing. And her rescue was enabled in part thanks to a quick-thinking police officer.
Melissa Vasquez was ejected from her vehicle after she crashed in the mountains near San Jose, about twenty miles from where she lives in Campbell, California, police said. Campbell police were alerted of a possible crash on Monday by the car's on-board OnStar security system, but couldn't locate the woman's vehicle, police said.
"During the investigation, one of our officers asked her stepmom about her iPhone," Sgt. Gary Berg told ABC News today. "So the officer logged on to the Find My iPhone app and unbelievably he was able to guess her password and log into her account. And at that point, he located the address where her phone was showing on GPS."
California Highway Patrol brought in a helicopter and pulled the woman to safety today. She had been ejected from her car and was laying face down in the ravine, police said.
It's not yet clear how the accident happened, and police are investigating. Vasquez, 28, is being treated for injuries at a hospital, police said.
"It's pretty remarkable," Berg said. "I would hate to think of the outcome had we not been able to log on."
OnStar told ABC News it is aware of the incident and looking into what happened.
"We are saddened by this incident involving one of our subscribers," the company said in a statement. "Our subscribers' safety and security is OnStar's utmost concern. We are currently conducting a complete investigation, including information we have received from our call centers, our cellular network provider, our engineering team and the local authorities to better understand what occurred."
