INDIANAPOLIS — People from two separate vehicles had to be rescued after their vehicles slid into an Indianapolis retention pond during the icy conditions Monday evening.
Crews with the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department and the Indianapolis Fire Department were called to a retention pond near a shopping center around 6:35 p.m. for a report of two vehicles that went into the water.
Indianapolis Fire Department Battalion Chief Rita Reith says the drivers of both vehicles claimed to have hit a patch of ice on a bridge nearby and slid into the retention pond.
A 37-year-old woman was driving a Dodge Nitro with her three children, 17, 11 and 4-years-old. The driver told police they were heading to Applebees for dinner when they hit the ice and went into the pond. After rolling down the windows in the vehicle, the 11-year-old daughter was able to unbuckle herself and her young brother and they climbed out the rear windows. The mother and 17-year-old daughter were able to climb out the back window and onto the roof of the vehicle.
Reith said an unidentified man stopped to help after seeing the women drive into the pond and jumped into the water toward the family. The man pulled the 4-year-old to safety and turned him over to medics at the scene. The mother and two daughters waited on top of their vehicle until they were rescued.
A second vehicle driven by a 50-year-old woman also hit the same patch of ice and went down the embankment into the pond. Once she hit the water, Reith said the driver was able to roll down the windows and swim to shore.
All five occupants of the two vehicles were safely on shore by 7 p.m. They were all treated on scene by Pike Township and IEMS Medics and released.
