The Derby Storm Rescue truck plucked an overloaded pick-up truck from the Housatonic River Thursday.
Police and firefighters were sent to the boat launch near O’Sullivan’s Island at noon after receiving a report of a vehicle submerged in the water.
Aaron Lindgren, of Torrington, said he often fishes in the Housatonic River. He and a few colleagues were in a boat Thursday collecting junk metal from along the Shelton side of the Housatonic River.
Lindgren said collecting the junk clears the shore for fishermen — and scrapping the rusted loot raises some cash for gas to fuel the boat.
“It’s kind of a courtesy thing for the other fishermen,” he said.
As the men transferred the metal garbage from the boat to a small pick-up truck, the truck slipped out of gear and slowly rolled backward down the boat launch.
What went through Lindgren’s mind?
“How am I going to stop this truck?”
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He jumped in the truck as it slid into the water. He managed to start the engine and move forward a bit — only to have the engine stall.
“I was in the truck, in the water. I opened the window and got out,” Lindgren said, soaking from the knees down and shoeless.
Only the truck’s roof was above the water when all was said and done. Lindgren and his friends managed to hook the front of the truck to another vehicle in order to prevent the pick-up from floating down river.
What’d Lindgren do next?
“I called triple A,” he said, laughing. “They said ‘Oh, sorry, we can’t do anything with a truck submerged that far. You’ll have to call the police department.’”
A flat-bed tow from Tracy’s Garage in Derby couldn’t fish the truck out due to the weight of the scrap metal, so Derby firefighters used the all-purpose rescue truck.
A diver entered the pick-up to guide it.
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Derby firefighter Charles Sampson said the biggest concern was keeping the public out of harm’s way. There was a chance the tow line could have snapped, which would not have been good for any bystanders.
The boat launch is along the Derby Greenway, so lots of people were coming close to snap cell phone shots. Sampson kept moving them back.
It didn’t appear that any enforcement action was taken against Lindgren Thursday.
