SPOKANE, Wash. – Officers with the Spokane Police Department located a car that crashed through a guard rail and plunged into the Spokane River on Saturday.
SPD responded to a collision Saturday morning where a guard rail was torn out of the ground in the area of S. Riverton Avenue and Sinto Avenue, officials said.
Officers on scene determined that a vehicle was traveling westbound on Sinto, went through the guard rail and into the river. The guard rail was heavily damaged, and parts to a car were broken off and still laying at the scene.
Officers were not able to locate the vehicle due to the amount of water and strong currents. The Spokane Fire Department could not deploy its drone due to high winds
Officers continued the investigation throughout the day. Nobody made any missing persons reports or reported a vehicle matching the description of car parts left behind missing.
Several hours later, an officer was able to locate what appears to be a vehicle submerged in the water relatively close to the original crash scene. Water rescue experts with Spokane FD and the Spokane County Sheriff's Office dive team both advised that current conditions in the water are too dangerous to risk putting somebody in the water to investigate or recover the vehicle, officials said.
Experts will continued to monitor the water flow rate of the river and will determine when it is safe to enter the water, officials said.
Officials should avoid the area and refrain from entering the water, as the currents are extremely dangerous.
PREVIOUS INFORMATION:
Spokane PD Cpl. Ronald Van Tassel said it is “pretty apparent that the car was going west on Sinto, did not slow down at all and hit the guard rail.”
“I am fairly confident that the car went into the water,” Van Tassel added.
Van Tassel said the Spokane County Sheriff’s Air 1 helicopter could not see much in the river due to fast-moving waters and sediment. It was too windy to launch a drone and water conditions were too dangerous for a dive team, he added.
Van Tassel said parts of a white or cream-colored car were at the scene.
This is a developing story.
