LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- A man who was seen driving a burning vehicle into the Ohio River early Monday has been found alive.
Witnesses reported seeing the man driving into the water around 5 a.m., according to a news release from LMPD spokesman Dwight Mitchell. That's when 5th Division officers "responded to a call of a vehicle on fire and being driven into the river from the Cox Park Boat ramp." Witnesses told police they saw a male get out of the vehicle after driving it into the river, but he did not make it to the shore.
Louisville Fire and Rescue and the LMPD's Air Unit were searching for the driver before he was found sometime before 7 a.m. Officials with Anchorage Fire Department said the man floated several miles downstream, in the dark, where barge crews spotted him and pulled him out of the water near Eva Bandman Park.
We're told he did appear to have some burn injuries from the fire, but was conscious and alert when he was rescued and taken to University Hospital.
"Apparently sometime along the way and in the dark, he floated past us out there in the river," Mj. Richard Haines with Anchorage Fire said. "So we were not able to see him and it wasn't until daylight that the barge captain saw him in the water and they got him down by Eva Bandman."
The driver was the only person in the vehicle. A note from an LMPD spokesperson says the vehicle was recovered late Monday morning, and Metro Arson will be handling the case.
At this point, no details are available as to how the vehicle caught fire or why the man drove it into the river.
Police hope to answer those questions in the course of their investigation.
"I've seen a lot of strange things over the years, this is probably the oddest thing that I've ever witnessed," Haines said.
Copyright 2022 WDRB Media. All rights reserved.
