By Samantha House
Syracuse Media Group
SALINA, N.Y. — Firefighters climbed into a chilly Salina creek Friday morning to rescue a driver who crashed a pickup truck into the water.
A man drove off of Old Liverpool Road just before 8 a.m. before driving down a slope and into a creek. The creek runs next to the Village Burger parking lot.
Assistant Liverpool Fire Chief John Laakso said it isn’t clear exactly what led to the crash that ended with the pickup truck in the 4-foot-deep creek. The injured driver told firefighters he lost consciousness, he said.
“He was not able to get himself out, due to the water,” Laakso said.
Donning cold-water suits, firefighters climbed down the slope and freed the man from the damaged truck. Laakso called the rescue “abnormal.”
“It’s not an everyday event,” he said.
At the time of the crash, it was sprinkling and cold. Wind chills hovered around 22 degrees, according to the National Weather Service.
After he was rescued from his truck, the injured man was transported by American Medical Response to a hospital. In addition to paramedics and Liverpool firefighters, the Moyers Corners Fire Department and the Onondaga County Sheriff’s Office responded to the accident.
The collision smashed the pickup truck’s windshield, covering the glass with a web of cracks. Parts of the smashed vehicle -- including a lost headlight -- came to a rest on the pavement above the creek, while oil leaked out of the truck and into the water.
With about a dozen firefighters and bystanders watching, a tow truck driver eased the truck out of the water.
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