Florida man dies in crash that sent car off Monitor-Merrimac into water
By Madeline Miller , Colter Anstaett , Foster Meyerson
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NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (WTKR) — A man from Orlando was killed Monday morning when he struck another car during a lane change on the Monitor-Merrimac Memorial Bridge Tunnel and spun out before going over the wall into the water, according to Virginia State Police.
Divers from Suffolk and Norfolk teamed up Monday afternoon to recover the submerged vehicle — a Chevy Traverse — and its occupant, a 55-year-old man who has not been identified.
There were no other people in the Traverse at the time of the incident, state police said.
The car was recovered by divers between 2:15 and 2:30 p.m., fire officials told News 3. Divers had tried to get the car out of the water earlier, but weather conditions — including wind and the current — made it difficult.
The crash happened around 7 a.m. on I-664 southbount, state police say.
During the crash response, Suffolk Fire & Rescue had firefighters and trucks on the bridge and a boat in the water. Multiple other state and local agencies also had resources there.
“A call like this, we rely on regionalism,” said Suffolk Fire & Rescue Battalion Chief Nicholas Savage, the incident commander for the department during its response to the crash.
“A lot of our success is because of pre-incident training,” Savage continued to say. “Newport News (being) battalion one and us being battalion two, worked directly on their channel. Then, we actually established voice-to-voice communication just on what the intentions were. We recognized that first it was in their city, it was their call, and we took more of a support role.”
Suffolk Fire & Rescue Asst. Chief Dimitri Wilson said there are a lot of factors that go into getting a car out of the water.
“We have sonar detection, ROVs [remotely operated vehicles] that are in place that are able to detect the vehicle, get a visual of the vehicle, the depth of the vehicle, what type of shape it may be in. There are different circumstances that come into play regarding exactly how they’re going to get it up,” Wilson explained.
While such calls can be a strain on resources, the city is prepared, Wilson said.
“We look to get it done in any capacity,” said Wilson.
There was no structural damage to the bridge-tunnel, VSP said.
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