4:10 P.M. UPDATE
Columbus Police Department (CPD) investigators are looking into the death of a 46-year-old Columbus man after witnesses say the man’s vehicle drove into a pond. At 11:31 a.m. Tuesday, CPD and other first responders were called to the area of North Indianapolis Road and Kenholt Drive for a car in a nearby pond. When officers arrived, several people had gone into the water to attempt to pull the driver from the vehicle. CPD officers also went into the pond to assist as the rear end of the vehicle was somewhat visible but was sinking. However, they were not able to get the driver out.
Members of the Columbus Fire Department and Bartholomew County Water Rescue Team quickly arrived. They deployed rescue boats and divers. The driver and only occupant, Christopher Pool, was taken from the vehicle and medical personnel attempted life saving measures. However, Mr. Pool died at the scene.
The Accident Reconstruction Team and investigators were also called to the scene. Initial reports indicate that Pool was driving southbound on Indianapolis Road when for an unknown reason his vehicle veered off the roadway, through nearby bushes, and ultimately into the pond. CPD detectives are working with the Bartholomew County Coroner’s Office
to determine the circumstances of Mr. Pool’s death.
Multiple people sustained minor injuries while attempting to rescue Mr. Pool. They were all treated and released.
3:21 p.m.
Columbus police, who are leading the investigation into the submerged vehicle in a retention pond off Indianapolis Road, have confirmed there is a fatality in the incident.
Further information is expected to be released later this afternoon.
This story will be updated.
1 p.m. update
First responders report that divers are leaving the water as 31 Wrecker has completed removing the vehicle from the retention pond.
This story will be updated.
12:52 p.m. update
Columbus Fire Department has confirmed that one person was rescued from a submerged vehicle in a retention pond on Indianapolis Road and was taken by boat to the shoreline to be transported by ambulance to Columbus Regional Hospital.
The diver who rescued the individual is believed to be from the Bartholomew County Sheriff’s Office water rescue team, who continues to have divers in the water at the scene.
Columbus Fire Department public information officer Capt. Mike Wilson said only one person was believed to be in the vehicle although he was unsure if first responders had fully cleared the vehicle at this time.
The status on the individual pulled from the car is unknown at this time, first responders said.
The vehicle was submerged about 50 feet from shore, Wilson confirmed.
Agencies at the scene include the sheriff’s office, Indiana Department of Natural Resources, Columbus Fire Department, Columbus Township Fire Department, and Columbus police.
31 Wrecker Service has been called to the scene to remove the vehicle from the retention pond.
12:24 p.m.
A local construction worker who dived in to attempt to rescue the driver of a vehicle submerged in a retention pond near Indianapolis Road is being transported by ambulance to Columbus Regional Hospital.
Jason Baldwin, owner of C&B Home Improvements in Columbus, said he and the worker were traveling back from a job in Heritage Heights, traveling southbound on Indianapolis Road, when they arrived at the scene about 30 to 45 seconds after the vehicle went into the pond and submerged.
Baldwin said Josh Pennington, a worker for the company and a foreman, saw the vehicle submerged about 50 feet out into the retention pond, seeing its back wheels that were above water.
“Josh took off his clothes except for his pants and swam out there,” Baldwin said. “He tried busting out the windows.”
Baldwin said he is unsure whether Pennington was able to reach the driver. As Baldwin prepared to go into the water, Columbus police stopped him, and a female Columbus Police Department officer went into the water to reach Pennington, who was in the water for about 15 minutes before coming back to the shoreline and being placed in an ambulance for transport to the hospital.
In the ambulance, Pennington was being warmed with heating pads and was getting an IV according to Baldwin
“He’ll do anything to help anyone,” Baldwin said of Pennington. “I’m just speechless about what he did. He’s got a good heart.”
This story will be updated.
12:12 pm update
A local business owner who was driving on Indianapolis Road said he attempted to save the driver of the car that went into the retention pond but could not get to the car before it drifted into the pond and was submerged.
Chris Fitzsimmons, who owns Fitzsimmons Plumbing, said he was driving northbound on Indianapolis Road at about 11:30 a.m. and looked over at a car driving southbound that appeared to be moving toward the pond.
Fitzsimmons said it appeared the vehicle had hit something and was drifting toward the pond at a low rate of speed, describing it as “creeping” toward the water.
Fitzsimmons stopped his vehicle and attempted to get to the car, and got into the water trying to get to the driver, said said, “It was too late.”
“Quick as he hit the water, he was drifting out there an sinking fast,” Fitzsimmons said.
Fitzsimmons said the doors to the vehicle were locked and the windows were all up when he attempted to reach the driver, but could not.
“I was about to freeze to death,” he said, before he was pulled away from the interview by first responders.
12:06 P.M. UPDATE
Columbus police said in addition to the water rescue team at the scene of the submerged vehicle in a retention pond off Indianapolis Road, that the Columbus Police Department accident reconstruction team has also been dispatched to the scene.
The incident was originally reported to first responders as a vehicle into a retention pond off Indianapolis Road at Kenholt Drive and North Indianapolis road.
There are two large retention ponds on either side of Applied Labs at the location.
This story will be updated.
ORIGINAL STORY
COLUMBUS, Ind. — Columbus Fire Department divers have pulled one person from a submerged vehicle in a retention pond off Indianapolis road near Applied Labs this morning and are searching to determine if there are more people in the vehicle.
The report of a car in the water was made at about 11:30 a.m.
This story will be updated.
