Plunge into Potomac was purposeful
WASHINGTON (WJLA) — 08/25/2014 — A person was found dead in a car submerged in the Potomac River off the George Washington Parkway near the Columbia Island Marina Sunday afternoon.
- Photo: Kate Ryan/WTOP
- Photo: Kate Ryan/WTOP
Rescue crews and divers from the Arlington County Fire Department and the D.C. Fire Department have found one body.
The operator of a D.C. Duck Tours boat called authorities around noon Sunday saying there was a car submerged in the water near the Humpback Bridge and Interstate 395 and that he could see the silhouette of a person.
Divers recovered the body around 1:30 p.m. The car was pulled from the water by 4 p.m.
Authorities are considering this as a suicide, but the investigation will continue.
“I started taking some photos of it as it was going down,” witness John Gaile tells ABC7’s news partner WTOP radio. “Within about a minute, it went 90 degrees and completely submerged. I did not see anybody come up.”
Gaile tells WTOP that some people on a boat jumped into the water, but “couldn’t find the car.”
