the car not submerged in the water. the toddler is unconscious and unresponsive but alive. the officers flip the car over. >> raised the car up out of the water. as i tried to release the seat belt. >> the child was passed to me, and i just ran up and climbed in the ambulance with the child. >> reporter: for 14 hours, lily survived hanging upside down in freezing temperatures in the upper 20s with no food or water. >> it's amazing, children are very resilient. i think sometimes we don't realize how much they can withstand. >> reporter: as for the temperature, being cold might actually have helped lily. >> when you become hypothermic, it slows the body down. metabolism drops. your oxygen consumption drops. your glucose metabolism in use drops. glucose consumption drops. it ends up being neuroprotective. >> reporter: the main reason lily survived is her mother buckled her in a car seat so she didn't go through a window or drown. something that isn't surprising