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Truck Overturned In Creek A Bit Of A Mystery

A bit of a mystery surrounds a traffic accident Sunday morning in which a pickup truck was found overturned in a creek outside Molino.

About 7:30 a.m., a caller reporting finding the Ford F150 upside down, the cab partially submerged, in a branch of McDavid Creek. The driver of the truck was northbound on Highway 99 north of Crabtree Church Road when they failed to negotiate a curve. The vehicle left the roadway and traveled through heavy brush along the right of way for over 200 feet. The truck then traveled about 20 feet into a wooded area before overturning into the creek.

The truck’s engine was cold — it was impossible to determine how many hours, or days, the truck had been in the creek.

Firefighters discovered that all of the doors were locked on the king cab truck, and all of the windows were intact, except for a back passenger window that lodged against the creek bank. In order to enter the truck, firefighters had to break the driver’s window to unlock the truck. Before they could open the door, they were forced to cut away tree limbs.

They were unable to located anyone inside the submerged truck cab.  A complete search of the creek and the surrounding wooded area also failed to find a victim. Hours later, when a heavy duty wrecker was used to winch the truck out of the wooded area, no victim was found under the truck.

When the truck was removed from the woods, it was discovered that the vehicle gearshift was in park, and the keys were gone.

So how did a truck in park with doors locked end up in the creek? And how did the driver escape from a vehicle where trees and creek bank presented the doors from opening?

The Florida Highway Patrol was able to find the truck’s owner from the tag and registration. The owners denied driving the truck and said it was being driven by a relative. At last report the relative had not yet claimed to be driving or offered an explanation for the crash.

One law enforcement officer theorized that after initially leaving the roadway, the truck had stopped at the top of the embankment leading down to the creek, likely supported by brush and small trees. The driver would have then exited the truck, taking the keys and locking the doors. Then, some time later, the brush and trees collapsed, sending the truck into the creek.

The accident remains under investigation by the Florida Highway Patrol. The Molino and Cantonment stations of Escambia Fire Rescue, Escambia County EMS and the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office also responded to the crash.

Pictured top: A firefighter wades through a branch of McDavid Creek to check the inside of a submerged pickup cab for a possible victim. Pictured inset and below: The truck landed upside down in a creek. Pictured next to bottom: A view of the truck after brush and small trees were removed by firefighters. Pictured bottom: The truck was not visible from the roadway. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.