Heveningham – Police officers rescue man from car in water

The fast action of five police officers has been commended, after they rescued a man from a car which went off the road into a pond in Heveningham.

The incident occurred at 1.20am on Sunday 2 March, in Long Lane. The monitoring system of the car (a BMW X7) alerted police that the vehicle had been involved in a collision.

The driver was able to tell the operator that he had crashed into a large pond and the car was filling with water. He was unable to get out of the vehicle and was stuck in an air pocket in the boot.   

Officers were quickly on the scene and managed to locate the car which was almost fully submerged in water. They deployed a throw line which the man managed to grab hold of and with a team effort, they managed to drag him out of the car and then out of the water.

Ambulance and fire crews then arrived and the man was taken to hospital to be checked over and later discharged.

The driver was initially arrested for failing to provide a specimen of breath for analysis, but later provided a sample of blood in hospital. He remains under investigation pending the outcome of the blood tests.

Inspector Liz Casey, Policing Commander for Halesworth, said: “This incident could’ve had a very different ending had it not been for the actions of these officers.

“Not only did they respond quickly to the 999 call, they managed to locate the submerged vehicle in the dark and took immediate action to rescue the driver.

“Time was very much of the essence and I would like to commend this fantastic team effort which I believe undoubtedly saved the man’s life.”