Mom of kids submerged in pond after crash did not have license

a By Tracy Connor, Staff Writer, NBC NewsThe driver of a car that plunged into an ice-cold Minnesota pond — killing two children and leaving three others in critical condition — did not have a valid license, police said Friday.Marion Guerrido, 23, had a learner's permit and should not have been behind the wheel because she did not have a licensed driver in the seat next to her, officials said.Guerrido escaped from the Pontiac Grand Am after it left a highway in a Minneapolis suburb and plunged into an eight-foot-deep pond.But the five children in the sedan — three of them her children, and two the children of her boyfriend — were submerged between 25 and 45 minutes.The kids were unresponsive when divers pulled them from the vehicle. Two of them, 5-year-old Zenavia Rennie and 7-year-old Alarious Coleman-Guerrido, later died. The others, between ages 1 and 6, were being treated at local hospitals."Devastating. It doesn’t get worse than this," said John Sedey, director of the Odyssey Academy charter school in Brooklyn Park, Minn., where four of the children were students.St. Louis Park Fire Chief Steve Koering said the water was so muddy divers had to blindly feel their way around the car. The front window was open, and they pulled three kids through it, then broke a back window to get to the others."The water was extremely dark and murky," he said.Minnesota State Patrol Lt. Eric Roeske said it's unclear how the crash happened. The road was wet but was not icy and there was some fog.Counselors will be on hand at Odyssey Academy on Friday to console children and teachers."They are awesome kids," Laura Montray, a kindergarten teacher who has taught three of the children, told NBC affiliate KARE."They're so sweet and so nice. Just the best kids."Related:Car plunges into pond; 5 children in critical conditionThis story was originally published on Fri Nov 22, 2013 6:50 AM EST