A Seymour officer was not hurt after his car went down an embankment into a shallow river Saturday.
Officer Dedrick Wilcox responded to a minor car accident at 12:30 p.m. at Henny Penny, a gas station and store at 2 New Haven Road. One of the people involved in the accident ran away, according to police.
The suspect, whose name was not immediately available, has an active warrant for his arrest in connection to a domestic violence assault in Ansonia.
Wilcox searched for the man, and made his way to the nearby Kerite Company on Day Street, where the suspect was spotted.
Wilcox was backing up to turn around to continue the chase when his cruiser slid down an embankment and into “Bladens River,” which feeds the nearby Naugatuck River.
The Seymour fire department and Seymour ambulance personnel responded to the scene.
The officer was on top of the partially submerged car at first, as this photo shows:
Police from the shore tossed Wilcox a life jacket as a precaution, and they waited for emergency crews to respond before helping him out of the water. The officer was wearing a bullet-proof vest, along with various items on his gun belt — items that shouldn’t be submerged in six feet of water.
He made his way to the shore with the help of emergency responders and a ladder, according to a 12:51 p.m. radio transmission.
The following photo was posted on the Office of the First Selectman’s Facebook page:
The suspect is still at large, but authorities know his name.
Wilcox is a 10-year veteran of the force.
The cruiser is totaled, police said.
A dive team was brought in to help remove the vehicle. The police car was removed from the water at about 2:30 p.m.
State environmental officials were notified of the accident. No fluids from the car were seen on the ground or in the water.
The accident was one of several emergency calls Seymour handled over the weekend.
On Friday night, a pickup truck went off the road and rolled over at West and Bank streets. At roughly the same time, firefighters were sent to a stubborn chimney fire on Washington Avenue. Firefighters were at the chimney fire until about 12:15 a.m. Fire companies from Beacon Falls and Oxford were sent to cover potential incoming fire calls in Seymour.
