A 28-year-old Madison man died after his car crashed and fell into the Mill River.
The fatal crash occurred Sunday morning.
Police spokesman Officer David Hartman issued the following write-up about the incident:
At 8:31 AM, officers and firefighters were dispatched to the Mill River at Grand Avenue (closest to East Street) after someone reported a crash resulting in the involved car entering the river.
Officers and firefighters arrived quickly. Firefighters entered the river without hesitation. It was confirmed there was a person in the vehicle but attempts to free that person were unsuccessful.
The NHPD Dive Team was summoned. The operation had become a recovery rather than a rescue. Crash Reconstruction Team members were summoned and began their task. A 75 ton rotator truck from Lombard Motors was called in for the vehicle recovery and successfully picked the vehicle after it was rigged for extraction by police divers. The vehicle is a 2010 Nissan Altima.
The vehicle was occupied by its driver alone. He has been tentatively identified and is a 28 year old man who lived in Madison.
The deceased has been removed for autopsy by a death investigator from the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner. The Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection was on site to monitor environmental procedures taken to minimize any related impact the vehicle could have to the waterway. Absorbent boom was deployed by firefighters at the onset of the operation.
Crash investigators are responsible for determining, to the best of their abilities, the cause of the crash, coupled with the findings of the medical examiner. Such results are not expected for some time. At this point, there is no evidence present to suggest this was anything other than a single car crash.