Man’s Car, but No Plane, Submerged in Lake

By Kelly Davis, The State, Columbia, S.C.

Jun. 16–No charges are planned against a man who drove his car into Lake Murray early this morning and told nearby homeowners a plane had crashed.

The man, whose identity has not been released, said he had taken medication and fallen asleep at home, Lexington County Sheriff James Metts said in a news release. He then woke up and drove his Jeep Cherokee to Spence Point, where he apparently drove it into the water.

A nearby resident called emergency dispatchers around 3:20 a.m. when the man, soaking wet, walked up his driveway and said a plane had crashed into the lake, Metts said.

Dispatchers confirmed that no aircraft were missing. They found evidence that a vehicle apparently had struck some trees, saw wheel tracks into the water, then found the 49-year-old man’s Jeep partially submerged 20 yards from shore, he said. There were no other occupants inside.

The man was uninjured but disoriented, the sheriff said. He at first told deputies he had been carjacked, and then said he drove to the lake to investigate a plane crash but lost his car.

The man was taken voluntarily to Lexington Medical Center for an examination.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The State, Columbia, S.C.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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