Into The Drink

 

Undergrowth slowed vehicle's approach to water

Around 10:15 PM Tuesday night 911 Dispatch received a cell phone call from an anxious driver who reported having gone off Station Road into a stream (Hop Brook).  Ominously, his car was quickly taking on water.

Both AFD and APD  responded swiftly:  the driver was safely rescued, and transported to Cooley Dickinson Hospital.

The weather was hospitable and the road at that point is fairly straight (although the bridge is narrow) so naturally I thought alcohol may have played a role.   Apparently it did not.  Although the driver was cited for speed. 

At the scene of an accident the medical needs of a driver always take precedence.  An officer can't very well perform a Field Sobriety Test on an injured driver.  If alcohol is suspected to have contributed to the crash, APD can charge the driver with DUI and then subpoena the medical records.

Of course if the driver dies, authorities automatically screen for drugs or alcohol and usually release that as public information. 

Alcohol is involved in a little over one-third of Massachusetts road fatalities.  This incident could easily have represented the other side of that equation.

Conservation Department measuring device only a few yards from where the car entered Hop Brook (depth = 3.3 feet)