Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SALT LAKE COUNTY -- A man drove off the road and nearly drowned in Little Dell Reservoir early Tuesday morning. He claims he was trying to avoid a deer when he lost control.
The Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office says it doesn't know how someone could drive that far off the road and into a reservoir without really applying the brakes, but 26-year-old Andrew Swallow is sticking to his story and says he's thankful to be alive.
Swallow says it was a frightening and chilling experience. "[I've] been cold all day, light headed, tired," he said.
His '97 Chrysler submerged in Little Dell Reservoir is where the story ends. It begins when Swallow says he swerved to miss a dear. "The next thing I knew, I was going down. And then the next thing I knew, I was in the water," he said.
It happened around 2 a.m. Swallow was driving the connecting loop between Parleys and Emigration Canyon. The Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office says when he veered off the road, he traveled nearly 400 yards down a slope, hit the water and came to a stop 40 feet out in water that was 25 feet deep.
"I was able to get the seat belt undone and then get out through the back door, and how I made it to shore I don't know," Swallow said. "I was just crying out, just, ‘Lord just please help!'"
But investigators say they're not so sure Swallow is saying everything about the accident. "He felt like he was putting on the brake, but the vehicle just wouldn't come to a stop," said Lt. Don Hutson, spokesman for the Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office.
Hutson says deputies found no evidence of drugs or alcohol, but Swallow was still given two citations: one for driving left of center and the other for failing to maintain control the vehicle.
"Certainly, something was going on from an operator's perspective, or a mechanical perspective, that did not allow him to stop," Hutson said.
Whether it was a deer or something else, after Swallow escaped his sinking vehicle two people who happened to be in the area heard his cries for help and called 911.
"I honestly do not know how I'm still alive right now," Swallow said.
Swallow is suffering from a mild case of hypothermia. As far as why he was driving that stretch of road so late at night, he says does it at least once a week to relieve stress.
------
Story compiled with information from Whit Johnson, Shara Park and Randall Jeppesen.
