Driver dead after vehicle plunges into icy Potomac river
Video shows a pickup truck swerve across all lanes of the Arlington Memorial Bridge before it crashed into the freezing Potomac River Thursday evening.
Emergency personnel pulled a person from a car that plunged off the Arlington Memorial Bridge and into the Potomac River on Jan. 16.
A driver died early Friday morning after their truck crashed through the Arlington Memorial Bridge during rush hour Thursday and plunged into the icy Potomac River.
The incident, captured on dashcam footage, showed the white pickup truck traveling in the right lane before swerving left across all lanes of traffic, breaking through the bridge's stone railings, and plummeting over the edge.
The exact circumstances of the crash remain unclear, but witnesses say the driver may have been trying to avoid a previous crash and clipped a car bumper before swerving off the bridge.
Nigisti Adane, who took the dashcam video showing what led up to the crash, told Fox 5 the driver was under the water for at least 15 minutes before first responders arrived on the scene.
"I called at 6:48, and when the cops came it had been 15 minutes at that point," Adane said. "The truck went straight down. I think usually, I assumed that cars would float a little bit, but it looked like it went straight down."
Witnesses immediately stopped their vehicles and ran across traffic in an attempt to help until emergency response teams arrived. Rescue divers jumped into the Potomac River during the snowy 30-degree weather to rescue the submerged driver. Washington, D.C., experienced a low of 20 degrees F Thursday night.
The driver was pulled from the river and received life support while being transported to the hospital with critical, life-threatening injuries. Police later confirmed the driver died overnight.
Two other individuals were injured in the crash, with one person taken to the hospital with minor injuries and the other refusing treatment.
Following the accident, D.C. Police Traffic blocked all lanes at Rock Creek Parkway and Lincoln Memorial Circle Northwest, advising drivers to avoid the area. The bridge was reopened to traffic at 1 a.m. on Friday, according to the U.S. Park Police.
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