Pickup truck sinks in lake on live TV during boat launch mishap

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  • SEIndSAM

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    May 14, 2011
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    A pickup truck launching a motorboat into Lake Springfield in Springfield, Ill., was caught on camera as it slid into the water and sank during a live news report.

    WCIS reporter Jakob Emerson was on the scene reporting on a proposed project to build a second artificial lake in the area as an economic development program as the white GMC Sierra pickup backed down the ramp and the driver got out to release the boat it was towing from its trailer.


    In the now viral video, the truck can be seen behind Emerson sliding into the water itself and taking just 25 seconds to become fully submerged. Fortunately, no one was it it at the time.

    Sangamon County Emergency Management Office Director Bill Lee said the Spaulding Dam slip poses a unique challenge and was coated in a slippery layer of algae.

    "Most of them have a very gradual decline, this one seems to drop off relatively quick," Lee told WCIS. "It's always best to park at the top of the ramp and go down and walk the ramp to identify if that thick algae is there and makes it real slick."

    CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

    According to the City Water, Light and Power department one to three similar incidents are reported on the lake each year, but that the launches are cleaned monthly.

    Springfield Mayor Jim Langfelder told the news outlet the city would investigate the incident to determine exactly what happened and if any changes needed to be made to the launch.
    https://www.foxnews.com/auto/pickup-trunk-sinks-in-lake-on-live-tv-during-boat-launch-mishap
     

    HoughMade

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    Don't know what happened in this case, and it looks like the boat was unattached at some point, but a lot of these mishaps are due to the boat still being attached to the trailer, and then, when it starts floating, it pulls the trailer up and unloads, if not pulls up, the rear wheels, which are the only ones the parking brake and park itself is working on.

    Boat ramps can be slimy and slippery, but usually, if the weight stays on the rear wheels, it won't slide that far that fast.

    ...or he didn't quite get it into park.

    ETA

    Back in my car dealer days in the early '90s, my boss would have been all over that truck. We used to buy "salvage", mostly GM trucks, rebuild and sell them. But even back then, as electronics started to get more common, fixing a flood and getting it right started to become really hard. Engines and transmissions were never the issue, not even the ECU. The problem was every wiring connection and motor.

    The boss went off-type once and bought a pretty nearly new '92 Red Sunbird Convertible with a white top and white interior. It spent a little time in a Florida swamp. We got it looking perfect inside and out, but ended up replacing every window motor, the ECU, the antilock brake brain and most of the body wiring harness....and it was still never right.
     
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    jkaetz

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    Most of these are because they put it in park and set the parking break then hop out not realizing that only the rear two wheels are locked on a vehicle in 2WD mode. If those wheels get onto the slippery part of the ramp physics takes over. A vehicle with AWD or in 4WD mode will not have this happen since all four wheels will be locked. If you only have a 2WD vehicle either have someone sit in it and hold the brakes or get a tool that will hold the brake pedal down for you.
     

    CHCRandy

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    I have seen this happen before....a couple of times, especially bad when lakes have low water. You let a lake get low and you get all four on the mud.....you gonna go sledding.

    It was almost as humorous as the time the guy was cussing his wife for not being able to get the boat on the trailer.....then got out and cussed her out again for leaving the motor run with the tilt all the way up.......then he gets in his truck like an ******* and floors it. His boat slid off the trailer and landed on the dock, lmao. He was so busy cussing his wife he forget to hook the cable to the winch.

    I still remember my dad refusing to help him after he talked to his wife like that......dad told him he deserved it.
     

    littletommy

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    I have seen this happen before....a couple of times, especially bad when lakes have low water. You let a lake get low and you get all four on the mud.....you gonna go sledding.

    It was almost as humorous as the time the guy was cussing his wife for not being able to get the boat on the trailer.....then got out and cussed her out again for leaving the motor run with the tilt all the way up.......then he gets in his truck like an ******* and floors it. His boat slid off the trailer and landed on the dock, lmao. He was so busy cussing his wife he forget to hook the cable to the winch.

    I still remember my dad refusing to help him after he talked to his wife like that......dad told him he deserved it.
    Man, when I was a kid, we used to spend a lot of time near a boat ramp on the Ohio river, which has its own unique dangers that lakes don’t usually have. Lots of laughs. Some of the unsuccessful launches and or recoveries still make me laugh all these decades later!
     

    CHCRandy

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    Man, when I was a kid, we used to spend a lot of time near a boat ramp on the Ohio river, which has its own unique dangers that lakes don’t usually have. Lots of laughs. Some of the unsuccessful launches and or recoveries still make me laugh all these decades later!
    Yeah, As a kid my dad spent everyday on a lake or in the woods. I was with him almost every day I could fishing. I have seen some crazy things as well.....and not all of them was us laughing at others.

    Like the time my dad's buddy forgot to put on his tie downs, he hit a big chughole and bounced his nice bass boat right off the trailer into the road.

    Or the time my grand daddy had a little too much to drink and tried backing up my dad's boat, jack knifed it and flipped the boat on it's top. My dad was so mad I thought he was gonna kill grand daddy.

    Then one day at a tournament there was this guy who kept on wanting to race my dad. So after we got done fishing they unloaded the boats to race. My dad had a boat that was called a Delta Pro with a prototype engine on it. It wasn't really fastest on top end, but it was just flat quick out of the hole. Well this other guy was in his dad's brand new Hydra-Sport with a big black Mercury...it was fast on top end but was a slug out of the hole. They lined up and took off across Monroe, they got about half way to the dam and my dad had a huge lead and was throwing a rooster tail 100' and that guy decided he wanted in dad's clean water. He hit the wake behind my dad and that boat caught air and went airborne, probably 15-20 feet in the air, threw the kid driving it out and landed on it's top. Destroyed that boat. They towed it in and it was totaled. Busted the entire engine transom off the boat, tore the consoles off it, busted the fiberglass hull.......lucky someone didn't get killed.

    And then there was the time I was about 5-6 years old, dad backed us in the water and my only job was to back boat off trailer and park at dock to wait for him. I was Joe cool, started the boat and put it in reverse...backed it off trailer and it got stuck in reverse. I panicked and was screaming and crying. Dad was yelling for me to turn the key off.....pull the kill switch, none of it registered with me. I was in pure melt down mode.....one of his friends finally pulled up beside me and yanked the kill switch.


    I could go on for hours with stories like that. I miss those days. Life was so much simpler....sorry to ramble.
     

    Hatin Since 87

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    Yeah, As a kid my dad spent everyday on a lake or in the woods. I was with him almost every day I could fishing. I have seen some crazy things as well.....and not all of them was us laughing at others.

    Like the time my dad's buddy forgot to put on his tie downs, he hit a big chughole and bounced his nice bass boat right off the trailer into the road.

    Or the time my grand daddy had a little too much to drink and tried backing up my dad's boat, jack knifed it and flipped the boat on it's top. My dad was so mad I thought he was gonna kill grand daddy.

    Then one day at a tournament there was this guy who kept on wanting to race my dad. So after we got done fishing they unloaded the boats to race. My dad had a boat that was called a Delta Pro with a prototype engine on it. It wasn't really fastest on top end, but it was just flat quick out of the hole. Well this other guy was in his dad's brand new Hydra-Sport with a big black Mercury...it was fast on top end but was a slug out of the hole. They lined up and took off across Monroe, they got about half way to the dam and my dad had a huge lead and was throwing a rooster tail 100' and that guy decided he wanted in dad's clean water. He hit the wake behind my dad and that boat caught air and went airborne, probably 15-20 feet in the air, threw the kid driving it out and landed on it's top. Destroyed that boat. They towed it in and it was totaled. Busted the entire engine transom off the boat, tore the consoles off it, busted the fiberglass hull.......lucky someone didn't get killed.

    And then there was the time I was about 5-6 years old, dad backed us in the water and my only job was to back boat off trailer and park at dock to wait for him. I was Joe cool, started the boat and put it in reverse...backed it off trailer and it got stuck in reverse. I panicked and was screaming and crying. Dad was yelling for me to turn the key off.....pull the kill switch, none of it registered with me. I was in pure melt down mode.....one of his friends finally pulled up beside me and yanked the kill switch.


    I could go on for hours with stories like that. I miss those days. Life was so much simpler....sorry to ramble.
    More of these stories. Please. Reminds me of growing up, love hearing stuff like this.
     

    Hoosier Carry

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    Yeah, As a kid my dad spent everyday on a lake or in the woods. I was with him almost every day I could fishing. I have seen some crazy things as well.....and not all of them was us laughing at others.

    Like the time my dad's buddy forgot to put on his tie downs, he hit a big chughole and bounced his nice bass boat right off the trailer into the road.

    Or the time my grand daddy had a little too much to drink and tried backing up my dad's boat, jack knifed it and flipped the boat on it's top. My dad was so mad I thought he was gonna kill grand daddy.

    Then one day at a tournament there was this guy who kept on wanting to race my dad. So after we got done fishing they unloaded the boats to race. My dad had a boat that was called a Delta Pro with a prototype engine on it. It wasn't really fastest on top end, but it was just flat quick out of the hole. Well this other guy was in his dad's brand new Hydra-Sport with a big black Mercury...it was fast on top end but was a slug out of the hole. They lined up and took off across Monroe, they got about half way to the dam and my dad had a huge lead and was throwing a rooster tail 100' and that guy decided he wanted in dad's clean water. He hit the wake behind my dad and that boat caught air and went airborne, probably 15-20 feet in the air, threw the kid driving it out and landed on it's top. Destroyed that boat. They towed it in and it was totaled. Busted the entire engine transom off the boat, tore the consoles off it, busted the fiberglass hull.......lucky someone didn't get killed.

    And then there was the time I was about 5-6 years old, dad backed us in the water and my only job was to back boat off trailer and park at dock to wait for him. I was Joe cool, started the boat and put it in reverse...backed it off trailer and it got stuck in reverse. I panicked and was screaming and crying. Dad was yelling for me to turn the key off.....pull the kill switch, none of it registered with me. I was in pure melt down mode.....one of his friends finally pulled up beside me and yanked the kill switch.


    I could go on for hours with stories like that. I miss those days. Life was so much simpler....sorry to ramble.
    Did it look like this?(crash @ 1:20)
     

    femurphy77

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    Most of these are because they put it in park and set the parking break then hop out not realizing that only the rear two wheels are locked on a vehicle in 2WD mode. If those wheels get onto the slippery part of the ramp physics takes over. A vehicle with AWD or in 4WD mode will not have this happen since all four wheels will be locked. If you only have a 2WD vehicle either have someone sit in it and hold the brakes or get a tool that will hold the brake pedal down for you.
    True this! We always launch with one of us in the truck as well as having it in 4wd for at least the first trip down a new to us ramp. Our boat is largish with a deep draft so I need to get as much of the trailer as possible in the water usually. Of course we also have slack on the winch line, all other tie downs are gone and depending on the ramp the engine may or may not be idling as it goes in the water.

    Know the lake, know the ramp, know your limitations.

    Of course the boat ramp fail videos can be entertaining at times.
     

    CHCRandy

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    More of these stories. Please. Reminds me of growing up, love hearing stuff like this.
    Since you asked.......here is one before I hit the sack. My dad was friends with Tom Mann.....who owned Mann Lures. We went to his house at Lake Eufaula, I think the summer or 78 and stayed and fished with him for a couple of weeks. That was an adventure. I was 10 years old. My dad never wore shorts......but it was like 100 degrees and he decided to cut off his pants and make them shorts. He ended up getting 2nd & 3rd degree sunburn and was laid up getting treatment for a week or longer. So I would go out and fish in my dads boat of a daytime, sometimes with friends and sometimes alone. That lake was huge. There were guys there that would go out and clear the water moccasins out of your boat of a morning....damn things would curl up in your boat seats when they were folded down. Anyhow...my dad brought back 3 trash bags of fishing lures from Manns' lure shop, over $1000 in lures and worms. We get home to Danville and finally unload everything and get on with life.

    So we thought.

    My dad went to go on a fishing trip a week or 2 later. He is looking for these trash bags he sat in the garage and he cannot find them anywhere. Well he asks me if I seen them and I said no, but the week before was my sisters week to take out trash and I remembered her complaining about some bags being too heavy so I helped her take them out. Come to find out my sister and I had thrown away my dad's brand new fishing tackle.

    My God, he was as mad as a hen at an all you can eat omelet buffet.
     

    littletommy

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    One of the funniest things I remember seeing was a couple of guys trying to get their boat on the trailer on the Ohio river. One guy in the boat, which was maybe a 16’ ski type, and the other guy had backed the trailer in. Guy in the boat, for whatever reason, cut power and grabbed an oar way too soon, and was paddling like hell on the upriver side trying to line it up with the trailer. He realized he was moving with the current and jumped to the other side to try more paddling, well, he was a little too enthusiastic moving to the other side and kinda did a half cartwheel right out of the boat and into the river!

    I don’t even remember how or if they got the boat in, all I remember seeing is that guy going headfirst into the water. I laughed so hard I almost puked!
     
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