A boy having fun near a resort pool was trapped underwater after a vehicle suddenly crashed through the fence and landed in the water. The single-car crash occurred on Monday, July 13, at around 3:30 p.m. local time at the popular Smuggler’s Notch Resort in Vermont. The 9-year-old child, Joseph Sage, said the dark blue SUV hit him in the head while he was swimming before he was pulled below the water by one of the car’s tires.
Boy was trapped underwater by a car tire during wild crash
“I just heard a bang and a car went there,” the boy told NBC 5. “It hit my head and pulled me under.”
Officials said that the vehicle went through the fence and hit Sage and others on the way down. Fortunately, the father of the child was able to pull his son as well as another victim out of the water during the incident.
“My dad over there pulled me out,” Sage recalled, “and he pulled me down for a second, pulled another girl out.”
Several lifeguards assisted in rescuing the pool’s occupants, and one mother dove into the water with her clothes on to pull her girl out.
The boy managed to escape with relatively minor injuries. He said, “I have a scratch on my head from it. I have scratches on my finger. My side hurts a little.”
A member of the boy’s family, Grendel Clark, told PEOPLE that Sage was lucky that he was swimming in the right spot when the SUV dove into the water, “By amazing coincidence, Joey had just started going underwater at the perfect moment, so the surface of the water broke the bulk of the car’s weight before a tire landed on his head and started pushing him down as it sank in a 3-foot area.”
Clark told NBC 5, “I just cannot stand thinking about if his feet had been solidly on the ground when it landed on him.”
Witnesses say the driver of the SUV was taken into custody. The pool has been closed down until further notice. The investigation into the incident is ongoing.
