Saturday, July 1st, 2023
Driver barrels into water, charged with OVI
By William Kincaid
Photo by Paige Sutter/The Daily Standard
Montezuma firefighters wade through water in a Montezuma channel after responding to a report of a car that had driven into water on Thursday night around 10 p.m.
CELINA - The driver of a car that reportedly barreled over a seawall into a channel of water near Zuma Thru convenience store escaped injury but wound up in the Mercer County jail on Thursday night for OVI and other misdemeanor charges.
Montezuma Fire Department at 10:07 p.m. Thursday responded to 6953 State Route 219 on a report of a car that had driven into the water.
"It was behind the channel of Zuma Thru on Dorothy Lane," fire chief Lee Braun said. "We could not see where the car was because it was completely submerged, and being dark out we couldn't see a shadow of it or anything."
A witness who reportedly saw the car go into the channel advised firefighters of its location. Braun said the water was 2 feet over the roof of the car, which he believes was a Nissan Altima.
Two firefighters in wetsuits entered the channel, Braun said.
"We were on the south side of the channel. The car was actually located on the north side of the channel. So by the time they got to the other side they located it in probably a minute," Braun said.
The driver had already gotten out of the vehicle, he said. He was not injured, according to Braun.
"The witnesses said that there was more that ran so we're not 100% sure," Braun said when asked about other passengers.
Mercer County Sheriff Jeff Grey, when contacted after office hours, said the driver was taken to Mercer County jail for OVI and other misdemeanors. A passenger fled the scene but was later located, Grey noted.
Grey said there were no injuries. He didn't provide the names of the driver or passenger and said he didn't have other information to release at this point.
The case remains under investigation, he said.
A towing company removed the car from the channel at about 11:30 p.m., Braun said.
Asked about the circumstances of the incident, Braun said the vehicle was driving down a road in the trailer park. There were no barriers on the seawall and the vehicle drove straight off into the channel, he said.
"We actually had open water rescue training three weeks ago," Braun noted. "We train in open-water rescue fairly often, being as the lake is in our district."
Braun said 10 Montezuma firefighters responded to the scene, along with a sheriff's office deputy, Coldwater police officer and an Emergency Medical Services squad from Celina.
Correction:
An Emergency Medical Services squad from Coldwater, not Celina, on Thursday night responded to 6953 State Route 219 on a report of a car that had driven into the water.
The error was made in reporting.
