CANTON, Ohio — City police say they have cited the driver who climbed from her sinking van at a local golf course pond, resulting in an early-morning water rescue effort.
The crash occurred around 1:30 a.m. ET Sunday inside the city-owned Arrowhead Golf Club.
The 38-year-old woman, who lives in Canton, is accused of reckless operation on private property and failure to control the vehicle, both misdemeanor charges, according to a news release from the police department.
Investigators believe she had been the driver and sole occupant of the 2015 Chrysler minivan pulled from the golf course pond following a search by the South Summit County Dive Team.
“The listed vehicle entered the golf course after leaving the roadway at Fair Oaks Avenue SW and Rose Lane Street SW, traveling southbound through backyards and then westbound down the 8th hole fairway,” according to a news release from Sgt. Matthew Buzzard.
He said she eventually “looped back eastbound and entered the pond behind the clubhouse.”
The woman told authorities she swam from the sinking vehicle and that she didn’t know where she was. She knocked on doors of neighboring homes in the area asking for help, leading residents to notify authorities.
Police pinged her cellphone and, following tracks leading into the pond, found the submerged van when a responding North Canton firefighter caught a glimpse of it with his spotlight. The dive team was called in to see if anyone was inside the vehicle or the pond as a Stark County Sheriff’s deputy used a drone to search the area from above.
The dive team members used sonar equipment to scan the pond as well.
The Canton Regional Crash Team was called to assist with the investigation.
No one was injured in the crash, in which police say “alcohol is suspected to have been a contributing factor,” Buzzard said in the news release Tuesday.