Intoxicated Driver Floats The New River In Her Car

New River Gorge National River (WV)
Intoxicated Driver Floats The New River In Her Car

Ranger Justin Cawiezel responded to a 911 report of a car driven into the New River at the Grandview Sandbar just before 2 a.m. on September 13th. The dispatcher also advised that the woman who’d called in the report sounded intoxicated. When Cawiezel arrived, he located the driver of the vehicle, who reported that she had accidentally driven the vehicle into the river and said that she first became aware that she was in the river when she noticed her feet were getting wet. She said that she was able to get out of the vehicle through the open driver’s side window. Cawiezel determined that she had been alone when she drove the car in the river; suspecting that the driver was impaired, he performed the standard field sobriety tests and found that she registered a .094 two hours after the accident. The 1991 white Cavalier had floated for some distance before it sank. Assisted by a regional dive team, rangers were able to locate the vehicle about 30 yards downstream from the landing. The vehicle was removed from the river intact without any leakage.