Posts Tagged man dies in Arlington Heights after driving into pond

Car into pond in Arlington Heights 7-25-13 (more)

The Chicago Tribune has an article about a followup investigation into the handling of an incident last week where an elderly man drowned after driving his car into a local pond.

The emergency dispatcher who took a 911 call from an Arlington Heights man after he drove his car into a pond last week did not advise him to try to get out of the sinking vehicle, apparently in violation of the dispatch agency’s protocols.

The elderly man was rescued after [fire department divers] broke through a window, but he was pronounced dead a short time later. Some safety experts said that getting him out of the car before it became totally submerged would have been his best chance for survival.

Now, the dispatch agency that handled the six 911 calls about the accident — including the minutes-long conversation with the victim, Henry Laseke, 89 — has launched an inquiry to determine if “all standards and protocols were met,” according to a statement by Northwest Central Dispatch System.

In a recording of Laseke’s call, the dispatcher is heard asking him repeatedly for his address. The dispatcher tells him to calm down and that help is on the way.

Two minutes into the call, Laseke pleads one last time: “Hurry up, I’m sinking. The water is coming up …”

At no time did the dispatcher advise Laseke to try to open his car door or window or otherwise attempt to get out of the car.

But such instructions are part of the protocol for sinking vehicles developed by Priority Dispatch Corp., a Utah-based company that provides emergency protocols and training to Northwest Central’s 70 dispatchers.

“When somebody drives into the water and makes a 911 call, (the dispatcher would) tell them: ‘Unfasten your seat belts, open the car door and get out of your vehicle,'” said Michael Thompson, a consultant for Priority Dispatch Corp. “Anything else is counterproductive.”

Cindy Barbera-Brelle, executive director of Northwest Central, confirmed that Priority’s protocols are used by her agency, though she declined to comment on the specifics of the Arlington Heights incident.

Priority is “in the business of defining the protocols, and we follow them as they are written,” she said. “Those are the protocols that we have available to refer to, to follow when we’re processing calls.”

The incident happened about 7 a.m. Thursday, when Laseke apparently lost control of his 2013 Cadillac SUV and ended up in 8-foot-deep retention pond near his home. Neighbors say they saw Laseke talking on a cellphone inside the SUV as it bobbed in the water.

Speaking generally, Thompson said dispatchers typically do seek an address for most emergencies. But he said a sinking car requires a different response.

“Any agency that is not prepared to deal with that is probably doing their customer a disservice,” Thompson said.

Nationally, there are no mandatory standards for emergency dispatch protocols, experts said. But they added that most agencies follow common guidelines concerning emergency medical incidents, such as what steps to take if a person appears to be having a heart attack, experts said.

A sinking vehicle would be defined as a “technical rescue” that requires a special skill set and is not usually included in general guidelines for dispatchers that are provided by the National Fire Protection Association, said Ken Willette, a division manager for the Quincy, Mass.-based organization, which develops standards used by fire departments.

The Arlington Heights police and fire departments are also reviewing the incident.

Fire Chief Glenn Ericksen said he couldn’t speak to whether dispatchers are obligated to instruct callers on how to get to safety. But he said there are two crucial instructions to give someone in a sinking car: Undo the seat belt and open a window.

The National Safety Council said hundreds of people die each year due to vehicle submersion.

In such a situation, the focus should always be on escape — vehicles can sink in seconds, quicker than emergency crews can arrive on the scene, said John Ulczycki, a vice president with the council, who said he would have asked Laseke whether or not he could swim to safety.

A previous post about this incident can be found HERE.

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Car into pond in Arlington Heights 7-25-13

This from Larry Shapiro:

Arlington Heights firefighters struck a dive box this morning for assistance after a small SUV plunged into a pond located behind townhouses in the 1500 block of Courtland Drive. The SUV which reportedly had one occupant went up a driveway, between a tree and a structure taking out the column for a 2nd story deck and the in-ground electrical box before going into the water. A resident of the complex attempted to reach the driver but was unsuccessful. Divers entered the water and attached a cable from a tow truck that winched the submerged vehicle to a point where the driver could be pulled out.

The Chicago Tribune reports:

Divers pulled a person from an SUV that plunged into a pond at an apartment complex in Arlington Heights this morning, authorities said.

The person was given CPR at the scene and taken by ambulance to a hospital, but the person’s condition was not known.

The car went into the pond in the 1500 block of Courtland Drive in the northwest suburb around 7 a.m. after striking an electrical box, according to Arlington Heights Cmdr. Michael Miljon.

The first police officer on the scene called for a dive team because the pond was too deep to find the SUV, he said.

Divers located it about in the middle of the pond and began towing it to the surface around 7:40 a.m. Four rescue workers surrounded the SUV when it was about half-way out of the water and peered inside.

One worker, dressed in a yellow suit, used a metal bar to break the driver’s side window and then reached inside. A diver in a wet suit went to the other side of the SUV and was able to pull open the door and got to the person inside.

 

man drowns in Arlington Heights after driving into pond

Larry Shapiro photo

man drowns in Arlington Heights after driving into pond

Larry Shapiro photo

man drowns in Arlington Heights after driving into pond

Larry Shapiro photo

man drowns in Arlington Heights after driving into pond

Larry Shapiro photo

man drowns in Arlington Heights after driving into pond

Larry Shapiro photo

man drowns in Arlington Heights after driving into pond

Larry Shapiro photo

man drowns in Arlington Heights after driving into pond

Larry Shapiro photo

man drowns in Arlington Heights after driving into pond

Larry Shapiro photo

man drowns in Arlington Heights after driving into pond

Larry Shapiro photo

The Tribune updated the article:

Rick Geiger was getting ready for work this morning when he heard an explosion next to his townhome in Arlington Heights, then what sounded like a tidal wave crashing in the pond out back.

Geiger ran out to see an SUV in the middle of the pond, his 89-year-old neighbor Henry Laseke behind the wheel.

“He was clearly shaken up. He was on his cell phone, I don’t know who he was talking to at the time, whether it was a family member or 911,” Geiger, 48, said. “I had to get him out quick because it’s going to sink, it’s deep. . .I jumped in the water, I was the first one in the water and swam out to the vehicle, tried to open up the doors, which wasn’t happening. Tried to do everything I could to get him out, get the windows out.

“I said, ‘Open the door, open the door.’ He just kept looking at me, just looking at me. This panicked look. . . He seemed frozen. It went down very fast. His look never changed. Fear. Shock.”

Police and then firefighters and divers arrived within minutes, and the SUV was towed to the surface about 45 minutes after it plunged into the pond around 7 a.m. in the 1500 block of Courtland Drive.

Four rescue workers surrounded the SUV when it was about half-way out of the water and peered inside. One worker, dressed in a yellow suit, used a metal bar to break the driver’s side window and then reached inside. A diver in a wet suit went to the other side of the SUV and was able to pull open the door and get the man out.

Laseke was dragged to the shore and placed on a stretcher while paramedics administered CPR. He was pronounced dead at 10 a.m. at Northwest Community Hospital, according to the medical examiner’s office.

Police and fire officials said Laseke may have been trying to back into his garage but went forward instead. His SUV hit an electrical transformer and then dove into the pond in back of a townhouse complex in the northwest suburb.

“He accelerated very quickly,” Geiger said. “It literally launched him into the middle of the pond. He hit a transformer, so that’s on fire now, and he took out a patio. It was incredibly loud.

“So I jumped in and another guy jumped in and swam out by me,” he said. “I was feeling kind of confident it would stay afloat long enough. But the front glass was broke, that’s where the water started coming in. And the more it was flowing in, the more the glass was starting to break the front windshield. As soon as that started collapsing, the water started flowing in. Probably within a minute it was submerged.

“I fought as hard as I could, until I was so exhausted I almost went under,” Geiger said.

Geiger, who works for a security firm, says he regrets he couldn’t do more for his neighbor.

“That look, him in the SUV, and then him being pulled out. I’ll never forget,” Geiger said. “I’ll never be satisfied that I couldn’t get him. Never.”

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