AVENTURA, Fla. (AP) - A 4-year-old girl was rescued after her teenage brother started the family car and it jumped over a curb and into a canal behind their apartment.

The girl's mother, Tatiana Columbus, had been strapping her into a car seat Tuesday. Columbus and her 13-year-old son were able to free themselves from the Volvo but the girl was stuck inside.

The car was submerged by the time bystanders broke the car's windows using rocks and rescued the girl.

The girl breathed from a pocket of air in the car. She was taken to Jackson North Medical Center for minor injuries and released.

"If they didn't jump in and do what they did, she would have died," Miami-Dade County fire rescue Lt. Eddy Ballester said of the bystanders.

Columbus echoed those sentiments during an interview with WSVN-TV.

"I'm very lucky," she said, "and I thank God because I think it was him and all these good people that live here."

Her son said the incident shook him up.

"It was pretty scary," he told the station. "I tried to save my little sister. I held my breath for the longest I could."

Hospital spokeswoman Pat Morrissey said Wednesday that the Aventura family declined to allow any information to be released, including the girl's name and nature of injuries.

Columbus was cited for leaving children unattended or unsupervised in a motor vehicle.

Calls to her cell phone Wednesday went straight to voicemail, which was full.

(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)