Corvette driven into St. Mary Lake

**MarkP** · 06-12-09, 05:22 PM

Corvette driven into St. Mary Lake

By Sean McIntyre - Gulf Islands Driftwood

Published: June 12, 2009 10:00 AM
Updated: June 12, 2009 1:59 PM

Video: http://vettetube.com/view_video.php?...111d63e24f3b8e

British Columbia - Emergency personnel were called to St. Mary Lake early Friday morning after receiving calls that a distraught man drove his car into the lake and had taken to the water aboard a small paddle boat.

Witness Mark Toole, co-owner of Lakeside Gardens Resort, said he noticed the individual preparing to drive into the lake with his convertible Corvette near the resort on North End Road just after 7 a.m.

“It floated for quite a while and then slowly drifted out about 50 feet before it sank,” Toole said on Friday morning.

By the time emergency crews arrived on the scene, the car was nowhere to be seen and the middle-aged male had commandeered a small paddle boat.

“He made it across the bay and got quite a ways out,” Toole said.

Police took the man into custody with assistance from the Salt Spring Fire Department’s freshwater rescue vessel.

RCMP officers were not available for comment on Friday morning. The man’s age and name have not been released.

Toole said he recognized the man, who he believes is from the Victoria area, as an occasional guest at the Lakeside Gardens Resort.

Toole phoned RCMP after he became concerned for the individual’s safety.

The vehicle was removed from the lake bottom by the Johnson's Automotive Services tow-truck and crew at about 10:30 a.m. on Friday.