Car in the Drink

At about 5:30 this afternoon, I left my usual grocery store, and in the major thoroughfare beyond the large parking lot was a collection of emergency vehicles, lit up and ready for action. A ladder truck, a pumper, an ambulance (or two?), cops and more. One of the store employees, out for a cigarette, said there'd been a two-car crash, and that the Jaws of Life had been involved. Also, something about a car driving into a pond.

On the other side of the thoroughfare is a large pond ringed by a footpath. I put away my groceries and walked across the parking lot to the thoroughfare. A knot of people stood there, looking across the street. So I did too. All of the emergency vehicles and first responders were on the other side of the street, and two lanes (out of four) were still occupied with traffic -- slow moving traffic, but moving -- so I decided it was wise to stay on my side of the street to see what I could see.

At first I couldn't see it, but then the outline emerged: the top of a small blue car, halfway submerged in the pond. Its emergency lights flashed. I couldn't see anyone by the car, either occupants or rescuers, but a sizable crowd of onlookers stood on the far side of the pond. The car was smack in the middle of the pond. How did it get there, assuming it came from the thoroughfare? Did it run off the road and then float there by its momentum? Well, maybe. At least it wasn't upside down, which would have made escaping the car harder.

Bad day for someone. But at least the car ran into merely cold water, rather than icy cold water, as would have been the case in almost every other January.