ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. – An investigation is underway after crews recovered a vehicle from a creek Friday afternoon in Maplewood. One person was inside the vehicle.
The Metropolitan Sewer District crews said they were doing a flood assessment along Deer Creek in Maplewood when they saw the submerged vehicle in four feet of water.
They called Maplewood police and other police crews from Brentwood, Clayton, Webster, and Maplewood arrived trying to determine if this was a rescue or recovery effort.
Police later said it was a recovery effort which prompted a large police presence around the creek. The creek is located just behind Porter’s Chicken joint off of Big Bend Boulevard in Maplewood. Authorities spent several hours investigating the scene.
Investigators tell FOX 2 the car was not in the creek from flash flooding. Police said the driver was a male in his 60s who was heading on Shrewbury Avenue around 6 p.m. Thursday when his car went off the road and traveled through a wooded area before it ended up in the creek.
A neighbor said the creek hasn’t flooded for a long time.
“This area has not been flooded since I was 16 years old and I am 60 years old now,” said Donna Ernst. “We did notice a lot of growth at Marshall and Brentwood Boulevard and building up that whole area. I’ve lived here my whole life, and that was always the floodplain for Deer Creek.“
Ernst said she is heartbroken about the tragedy.
“It’s so sad,” she said. “So sad, somebody lost their life, tragically.”
Fire crews recovered a silver SUV from the scene. Investigators said they are waiting for the results from the medical examiner and they have not released the name of the male in his 60s who was recovered from the vehicle.