Author Topic: Woman gets Spotless car wash, drives into Hackensack River  (Read 5150 times)

Offline BLeafe

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Woman gets Spotless car wash, drives into Hackensack River
« on: July 23, 2012, 10:23:02 AM »
http://www.northjersey.com/news/bergen/bergen_safety/Car_wash_customer_hurt_when_car_plunges_into_river.html


Car wash customer hurt when car plunges into river [video]

Sunday, July 22, 2012    Last updated: Monday July 23, 2012, 8:16 AM
BY JUSTO BAUTISTA
STAFF WRITER


HACKENSACK — A River Edge woman whose car got soaked twice on Sunday — in a carwash and in the Hackensack River — suffered minor injuries after the car left the carwash and plunged into the river, authorities said.

The woman, who was not immediately identified, apparently hit the wrong pedal and she and her car ended up in the river, police said. She was rescued by a carwash employee and a customer and treated at Hackensack University Medical Center.

“I thought about my own mother,” said John Goez, 40, of Teaneck, an employee at the Spotless Auto Laundry who jumped into the river and, with the customer, rescued the driver, whom he described as an elderly woman.

“She was scared, crying,” Goez said of the trapped driver.

The car was almost underwater when Goez and the customer, Jay Orsino of River Edge, went into action.

“I kept telling her, ‘Don’t worry, we’re going to get you out of here,’ ” Goez said. “We couldn’t open the door because of the water pressure,” Goez said. “Thank God, the window was half open. We got her through the window.”

Once on land, the dazed woman said nothing to Goez. “She was scared,” Goez said.

Goez, who has been working at the car wash for one year, said he didn’t think he did anything extraordinary. “I’m no hero,” Goez said.

The incident occurred around 3:30 p.m. Police called city firefighters about a car in the water at East Anderson and River streets, said Lt. Justin Derevyanik of the Hackensack Fire Department.

The car had just exited the Spotless Auto Laundry on East Anderson Street when the car struck a curb and plunged into the nearby river, Derevyanik said.

The woman was pulled from the car just before police and firefighters arrived, Derevyanik said.

Firefighters launched a boat to check the vehicle for other occupants, found none and then secured the car by tying it to the shore line so it could be towed from the river, Derevyanik said. They then helped a tow truck crew retrieve the car.

No firefighters were injured.

Email: bautista@northjersey.com



Below are the photos found on The Record's site. The first one is a frame grab from a Spotless Car Wash surveillance camera and the others all had this caption:

Hackensack firefighters working to pull a car from the Hackensack River on Sunday afternoon. The car plunged into the river when its driver apparently hit the wrong pedal leaving a car wash at River Street and East Anderson Street.




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Re: Woman gets Spotless car wash, drives into Hackensack River
« Reply #1 on: July 24, 2012, 02:07:10 PM »
From YouTube:


Published on Jul 23, 2012 by wiseuppeopletv

HACKENSACK, N.J. — Police believe a woman hit the gas instead of the brake as she left a New Jersey car wash, sending her vehicle into a river. An employee and a customer at Spotless Auto Laundry jumped into the Hackensack River to rescue the woman on Sunday.

Employee John Goez tells The Record newspaper they couldn't open the door because of the water pressure. They managed to get the woman out through the window. A tow truck retrieved the vehicle and the woman was treated at a hospital for minor injuries.