The man, identified by neighbors as a widower who lived alone in the subdivision on Cortland, was in pronounced dead at a local hospital just before 10 a.m., hospital officials said. Police are investigating whether he hit the acceleration when he meant to hit the brakes, striking a building and then going into the pond around 7 a.m. in the 1500-block of Courtland Drive.
"I was just getting ready for work, I heard some crazy noises- smash and crashing, a tidal wave in your pond," Rick Geiger said. Geiger jumped into the pond and tried to help the man, but could not break the window on the SUV.
"You could tell he was elderly, he was in shock. I tried to get him to acknowledge me, but he was frozen," Geiger said.
Divers arrived within minutes and pulled the man out. They believe he was trapped underneath the water in the SUV for about 10 minutes. The man's gray SUV was towed to the surface around 7:45 a.m.
