Medical emergency causes driver to crash into Clinton River spillway

HARRISON TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WJBK) - Macomb County sheriff's deputies have pulled a 23-year-old woman from a vehicle that became partially submerged in a drainage ditch northeast of Detroit.

The sheriff's office says a trucker called 911 about 8:45 a.m. Wednesday after seeing someone veer off Interstate 94 in Harrison Township and go into the ditch.

Deputies found the driver unresponsive in the front seat of the locked and running vehicle. Water from ditch was about half-way up the vehicle's windows and rising.

They broke a window and pulled the driver out before the vehicle became completely submerged in the ditch.

The truck driver saw the woman lose control while traveling on I-94 westbound between Metro Parkway and Shook Road in Harrison Township.

"The car seem to submerge pretty quickly," said a firefighter. "Upon our arrival our reports said the car was about 50 percent submerged. Somebody was inside and unknown."

The sheriff's office  said the 23-year-old woman from Warren had a medical emergency which caused her to drive into the Clinton River Spillway.  Due to HIPPA laws, deputies were unable to go into further detail.

"She was in the far left lane of traffic, and he thought she was doing a natural lane change," said Det. Sgt. Gary Wiegand of the Macomb Sheriff's Office. "And the vehicle progressed through all three lanes of traffic, hit the shoulder and then hit the spill way here. The truck driver said at no time, did he see break lights."

There were child seats in the minivan, but fortunately the driver was alone.

"She wasn't very alert when she was initially pulled out of the water," Wiegand said. "As the first responders spoke with her, she became more and more alert. it was at that time she was alone in the car.

"We were concerned about children because there were car seats coming out of the vehicle as it submerged under water."

The driver was taken a nearby hospital, police say her injuries are not life threatening.