Victim Home After Crashing Off Chesapeake Bay Bridge
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (WJZ) -- Released from the hospital after crashing off the Bay Bridge. The unidentified victim is home.
Friday night on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, a truck hit a car and sent it plunging into the water. Motorists were stranded on the bridge for hours.
Pat Warren has more.
The young woman involved was released from Shock Trauma. There were no serious injuries in this crash, but that doesn't mean it wasn't serious. She has been identified as Morgan Jade Lake.
As bad as it looks--jackknifed tractor trailer and damaged car blocking the eastbound span of the Bay Bridge--it's what you don't see that's the real disaster: A car in the water, the driver in it.
"The operator was able to exit the vehicle and swim to some rocks," said Sgt. Jonathan Green, MDTA Police.
Watching Saturday's recovery effort makes it look like a miracle the driver survived.
The car, hit by the rig, went up and over the wall around 8:30 p.m. Friday night, dropped 40 feet and hit the water in the shallow end about a mile east of the toll plaza.
"Obviously, there's a great deal to investigate," said Green. "Collision re-constructionists have been on the scene for some time now. They are conducting their investigation."
Police turned the westbound span into a two way crossing, but the six hour long shut down during the investigation had drivers turning off their engines and cooling their heels in the sweltering heat of the night.
The bridge reopened around 2 a.m.
It took salvage crews several hours Saturday to bring the car up out of the water.
The last time a vehicle went over the bridge was in 2008. And unfortunately, the driver of a tractor trailer was killed.
Structural engineers were called to determine if any damage was done to the bridge, and report that it's only surface or cosmetic damage.
