Woman rescued from car roof after driving into Fox River in Waukesha
WAUKESHA -- A 24-year-old woman was taken to the hospital after she drove her car into the frigid Fox River in downtown Waukesha on Friday, November 27th.
Car in Fox River, Waukesha
Waukesha Police said the woman was driving on Buckley Street toward the river around 12:50 p.m. Friday when she went through the intersection at Corrina Boulevard, plunging into the river. Police weren't sure what caused the woman to miss the turn.
Firefighters dressed into their cold water suits swam out to the woman, wrapping a rope around her body and pulling her to the river bank. An ambulance took her to the hospital, and Waukesha Fire Lt. Steve Clementi said she would be OK.
"Just cold and wet," he said, adding that the woman made the work easier for rescue crews. "She crawled out her sunroof, sat on top of the roof and waited for someone to come get her."
Crews had to call in a larger tow truck after the first one didn't have enough power to pull the woman's Ford sedan out of the water. After about 90 minutes submerged in eight-foot-deep water, the car was back on land.
It was a scene that Rich Roffa hasn't seen in 20 years walking the river's banks in Waukesha. When he pulled up to begin his walk Friday afternoon, Roffa said he saw police cars and an ambulance.
"It’s kind of scary," said Roffa. "As long as the person’s OK."
More than a dozen people gathered on the river bank to take photos and watch the tow truck operators and firefighters work.
Temperatures hovered around freezing, but the wind made it feel much colder.
"We train every year to do rescues just like this, so it was a pretty standard operation for us," Clementi told reporters afterward.
Car into Fox River