A boater got more than he bargained for this morning when a mishap resulted in his SUV becoming completely submerged at Chatfield State Park.
No one was hurt, but a 2006 Nissan Xterra is likely totaled, said Capt. Tim Woodward, the water rescue team leader with Littleton Fire Rescue.
The man was backing an Xterra and trailer down a ramp, on the north side of the reservoir, to pull a fishing boat out of the water when his foot apparently slipped and the SUV got away from him.
Water rose quickly around the SUV and the driver tried to bail out when it got as high as his window, Woodward said, but the window wouldn’t roll down.
The driver didn’t panic and was able to get out and swim to safety.
The SUV came to rest in 20 feet of water about 100 feet off the shore when the trailer jack-knifed and stopped it.
Two Littleton divers located the Xterra, hooked a line to it and the SUV was pulled from its watery grave.
“From my experience, once they’re under the water, they’re totaled,” Woodward said of the vehicle. The SUV was submerged for about an hour.
Firefighters checked to make sure there were no oil or gas leaks and they picked up a few pieces of debris that were in the water as a result of the incident.
“It was just an unfortunate accident,” Woodward said. “It’s a good thing no one was hurt.”
As a safety precaution boaters should keep their life vests on when launching or retrieving boats, Woodward said.
“It certainly wouldn’t hurt,” he said.
