A 52-year-old woman who drove her car into the harbor last Tuesday has died, officials said days after announcing she was expected to survive.
The manner of Danielle Younger’s death has been ruled a suicide, and the cause of death is cerebral herniation, catastrophic brain injury and cardiac arrest, according to Stephanie Moore, spokesperson for the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner of Maryland.
Younger plunged her red Chevy sedan into the harbor Tuesday evening, sending emergency personnel rushing to her rescue. Officials said Younger was submerged in the water for nearly half an hour before Baltimore City Fire Department divers pulled her out.
Dozens of fire trucks and police cars lined Pier 5 in response to the vehicle plunging into the harbor. Divers braved the 53-degree water to save Younger, and police extracted her car about an hour later.
Younger was alert and awake Wednesday afternoon, inducing hope that she might survive after being in critical condition Tuesday night. Experts told The Banner that people can survive submergence in the frigid harbor because the hypothermia it causes, while dangerous, can be protective by slowing down the body’s metabolism.
By Friday, though, Younger was dead, Baltimore Police Department officials said.
Earlier this year, emergency personnel pulled a van with a body inside of it out of the harbor. The van, branded with the logo of Silver Taxi Cab, a Waldorf-based transportation company, was recovered 22 feet underwater.
A spokesperson for Baltimore Police said the van was reported missing in December 2014, but they have not yet identified the person found with it.
If you or someone you know needs help, the national suicide and crisis lifeline in the U.S. is available by calling or texting 988. There is also an online chat at 988lifeline.org.




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