Published: January 08, 2010 10:28 am      

Submerged vehicle lifted

By ELLIS GOODWIN

Staff Writer



VERDEN – For the third time in a little more than a week, salvage crews met in Verden to try to raise a vehicle that crashed into a pond on Christmas Eve.

The crew – consisting of divers, crane operators and a bevy of bystanders – tried to locate the vehicle last Wednesday but could not find it. Crew members searched again on Thursday and located it, but waited until Monday to lift it.

For the vehicle owner, Kevin Chaney, it was an emotional moment Monday when the workers pulled the car from the pond. Johnson's Wrecker of Chickasha pulled the car from the pond.

Chaney and his wife, Teresa Stockard, were in the vehicle when it careened off closed bridge, down an embankment and into the murky water. They had been traveling north on County Line Road when they experienced white out conditions that made it too difficult to drive.

About one mile north of Verden, they turned around their vehicle, but they could not see warning signs as they approached a collapsed bridge.

Chaney said he saw the railing at the last minute and tried to stop, but it was too late. Their car slid up the guardrail and catapulted towards the water.

The 2007 Ford Fusion rolled onto its top and began to sink. Chaney was able to free himself and Stockard, who is handicapped, but was unable to free their four-year-old Border Collie.

"I hope it just gives us some closure," he said. "I just want to get my dog, our dog, out of there. It's been eating us up."

As crews began tying cables and preparing to lift the sunken vehicle Chaney kept his wife close by, they did not know what to expect, but prayed for the best.

To Chaney's and Stockard's surprise their dog was not in the vehicle when it emerged from the muck.

Chaney said he hopes Princess, the dog, is surviving on her own.

Jimmy Johnson, owner of Johnson's Wrecker, said he wanted to get the car out for two reasons: so that he, Chaney and Stockard can get some sleep and because it is unsafe environmentally.

On Monday, it took divers less than 10 minutes to find the vehicle. Johnson marked the spot he believed the car sunk with a floating jug tied to a magnet that stuck to the vehicle.

Once hooked to the crane, the car surfaced quickly.

"Thank goodness for the diver," Johnson said. "Once we got tied on the crane just hauled it right out."