Pickup rescued from park pond after drunk driver crash

A single‑seat pickup was pulled out of a park pond on Sunday after its driver crashed into the water while intoxicated. The incident happened near 5 p.m. on April 19 at A Place to Play Community Park, Third Street.

• Speeding & Collision – Police say the woman was speeding through the park, hit three parked cars, and then veered off the road into a pond about 50 feet from shore.
• Rescue – She was found in fifteen feet of water and rescued by a passerby who pulled her out; no other injuries were reported.

The vehicle stayed in the pond for a week, partly because rain and low visibility delayed recovery. Heavy showers had dumped more than two inches of precipitation over Santa Rosa by April 22, leaving the area clouded and hard to see. Authorities finally lifted the truck around 11 a.m. Sunday using hydrophobic booms—floating barriers that soak up oil and gasoline—to keep the spill from spreading.

The Santa Rosa Fire Department’s hazmat team, along with a dive unit from the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office, worked together on the removal. The driver was later taken into custody on DUI suspicion and treated at a local hospital.