Car plunges into icy East Rockaway bay

Police, fire department and emergency services responded on Jan. 26 to a call for a car in the water in East Rockaway.

A car sinks into the icy waters of the canal in Bay Park.

Courtesy Dominic Orlando/ERFD

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By Mary Malloy

mmalloy@liherald.com

After suffering what police say was a possible seizure, a 24-year-old man lost control of his car near an East Rockaway dock last Sunday morning, and the vehicle plunged into the icy waters of the Talfor Boat Basin.

Officers from the Nassau County Police Department’s 4th Precinct, the Nassau County Marine Bureau and the East Rockaway Fire Department’s Emergency Services unit responded to the scene.

According to an ERFD spokesman, firefighters and emergency personnel arrived at the scene, near the intersection of Althouse Avenue and Dock Street, at approximately 9:15 a.m., and discovered a black 2005 Cadillac almost submerged in the canal. The driver had escaped his sinking car through the trunk, and was in the back seat of a Nassau County police car when emergency workers arrived.

He was evaluated by the Fire Department’s Rescue Squad and transported to South Nassau Communities Hospital for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries.

The car appeared to have gone through a guardrail, police said, possibly skidding on ice and snow on the road before hitting the water. It was removed from the water by Emergency Services and the Marine Bureau. There was no apparent criminality, police said.