Chicago neptune vibe driver killed in wreck

[joatmon]

http://nwitimes.com/articles/2...e.txtQuote »Dramatic rescue fails to save driverFriday, April 20, 2007 12:43 AM CDTPost a Comment | Email this story | Print this storyBY SUSAN BROWNsbrown@nwitimes.com219.836.3780HAMMOND | A commercial driver, a nurse and police officers tried frantically but couldn't save a woman whose car had sunk into a Hammond pond after a collision about 1 p.m. Thursday.The Chicago woman, 51, was declared dead at 2:43 p.m. at a Chicago hospital, Hammond police Lt. Richard Hoyda said. Her identity was not being released until family could be notified, authorities said.Hammond Fire Department Battalion Chief Thomas Tyburski said the call about the accident, near the intersection of Indianapolis Boulevard and the entrance road to Horseshoe Casino, came in at 1:05 p.m.By the time firefighters were hearing of the accident, home health care nurse Hurlon Jackson said commercial diver Tracy Howard, also of Chicago, was preparing to dive into the 40-degree water.Jackson said she and Howard tried but failed to prevent the woman's car, a blue Pontiac Vibe, from rolling into the city-owned pond after the car was hit twice by a small, white utility-style truck.Jackson's car was right behind the woman's car, which was leaving the Luke service station across from the pond."I had just gotten gas," Jackson said."It was moving too fast for me to catch," she said.After the collision, the Chicago woman's car continued across several lanes of traffic and into the pond, where it sunk over the span of several minutes, Jackson said.Jackson said the driver of the truck, identified by police as Edwin Rolando Mazariegos, 44, reversed his truck and stopped. Police said Mazariegos has not been cited pending further investigation.Other bystanders, including police officers, attempted to enter the water, but the water was too cold, she said.Having failed to stop the car, Howard said he called for someone to drive his truck from the gas station to the pond, where he immediately suited up for a dive with the help of his dive tender, Richie Wright, of Chicago."I just finished diving at the marina," said Howard, who had been conducting an inspection of the marina's dock. "That's what I do."Tyburski and others said Howard's presence sped the rescue attempt by at least an hour because only Lake County Sheriff's Department has divers."What's the chances of that?" Tyburski said of Howard's happening on the scene.Without Howard's dive, Tyburski said the car could not have been located quickly in the muck, thick as tar, at the bottom of the pond. By Jackson's calculations, the car was submerged for 48 minutes.Firefighters donned flotation equipment, ready to retrieve the woman from the car as soon as it surfaced."We had four guys in the water," Tyburski said. "The right things were done. You could not just get into the water."Howard said the car's nose was buried in more than 2 feet of muck in the retaining pond, which he estimated at 12 to 15 feet deep and well more than 100 feet in length."I did my best," Howard said. "I hope she's OK."Jackson and bystander Michael Miles, also of Chicago, who drove Howard's truck to the scene and helped him prepare for the dive, recommended a barrier be installed at the pond."It could save a life," Miles said.

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[Mrizzle05]

WOW... thats a sad story.