MURFREESBORO — An unidentified man was rescued from the top of the car he was driving after it plunged off Northwest Broad Street into Overall Creek early Saturday morning.

"A car was behind him, saw him run off the road and called this in (to 9-1-1)." said Capt. Mark McCluskey of Murfreesboro Fire & Rescue. "If that hadn't happened, there isn't telling how long it would have been to find it."

Members of the Murfreesboro Fire & Rescue Department, with assistance from Rutherford County Special Operations and the Murfreesboro Police Department, responded to the 3:16 a.m. accident near Singer and Florence roads to rescue the stranded motorist, he said.

M.F.R.D.'s Technical Rescue Team based at Station 7 on Thompson Lane arrived at 3:29 and began a swift water rescue operation.

Blankets were first passed to the victim as the rescue team made its way to him by boat. When the boat team made contact with the vehicle, the victim was placed in a flotation device, secured with a safety rope and then placed inside the boat for transport to shore.

The frigid temperatures made speed of rescue a critical factor, McCluskey said, adding that the boat team was out of the water in approximately nine minutes. The victim was then transported to an area hospital.

His name and condition were not available on Saturday.

The boat rescue team was made up of firefighters Doug Inglish, Paul Oliver, Jeremy Spivey of the M.F.R.D., and Paramedic Adam Rose of Rutherford County Special Operations.

The car was coming inbound from Smyrna on Broad Street when it ran off the road, McCluskey said.

"The car missed the guard rails off the road and hit the creek," added McCluskey. "The car floated under the bridge."

M.F.R.D. Cmdr. Darryl Alexander said the "gentleman fell asleep at the wheel."

Alexander said when the rescue team arrived, the man was sitting on the top of the car. The unidentified man, who appeared to be in his early 20s, had crawled out of his compact car, into the water and onto the top of his car to escape the swollen waters of Overall Creek.

"He was getting close to hypothermia," Alexander said.

"If we hadn't been there, it could have been a totally desperate situation," McCluskey said. "It was just a matter of time."

Written by: Doug Davis 

The Daily News Jurnal