Officials ID man recovered from car that fell into Ohio River
Eleven days after a vehicle toppled off the Interstate 275 bridge across the Ohio River during a 12-vehicle crash, crews recovered the vehicle and the body of at least one of the victims.
A crane pulled the red Pontiac Grand Prix to the surface around noon Saturday. After it was recovered, Capt. Dale Appel, team director of the Boone County Water Rescue Team, confirmed the body of one victim was inside the vehicle.
The victim was identified Sunday as David James Bouma of Milford, Ohio, after an autopsy by the State Medical Examiner's Office in Frankfort, Kentucky.
The cause of death was determined to be head trauma, according to autopsy results. Campbell County Coroner Al Garnick said officials don't believe he drowned.
It remains unclear whether there were other passengers in the car.
On March 15, Bouma's vehicle went over the concrete wall at the side of the eastbound lanes of the Combs-Hehl bridge, which was on his regular commuting route.
Police said the crash, which occurred just before rush hour, is still under investigation. A reconstruction team will inspect the vehicle, which they expect will provide some answers.
A single diver of Marine Solutions Inc. dropped into the water at 10 a.m. to recover the car, according to Appel.
He said the car was surrounded by debris and is 90 percent full of silt and sand.
The diver, Ryan Kendall, couldn't see more than a foot in front of him, and was relying on his sense of touch and imagination to navigate the underwater scene.
The crew placed a line in the water that dropped Kendall two feet in front of the car, which he found upside down at the bottom of the river.
He was able to walk around the submerged vehicle to inspect it. Because the vehicle was flipped, Kendall had access to four strong rigging points to strap the car and get it lifted to the surface, he said.
The Boone County Water Rescue Team led the search and recovery, which took about six hours to complete.
Sonar technology was initially used to locate the vehicle in the river soon after the crash, but weather and river conditions delayed the search.
The rescue team launched its vessels from the Aquaramp Marina in Fort Thomas around 7 a.m., but it was a slow start as foggy skies and a freeze warning in effect from the National Weather Service delayed the early morning process.
It was a long haul, as expected, to get the car to the surface, but the weather cooperated as the day went on offering sunny skies and temperatures up to 63 degrees.
The river was closed until the recovery was complete.
Recovery efforts were suspended after the 4:30 p.m. March 15 crash due to high water levels and strong currents.
Witness: Car was hit, 'went into the Ohio River'
The Boone County Water Rescue Team tried to reach the vehicle on the day of the crash and attached a line from the car to a bridge pier but were unable to resume efforts suspended that night.
Appel said the current needed to be at or below 1.5 miles per hour before divers can safely enter the river. The current measured in the days following the crash was 5 miles per hour.
"We had a diver within eight feet of it, and the current was so swift, it wrapped him up and caused him severe problems," Appel said at the time.
The Combs-Hehl bridge, which is more than 1,440 feet long, was built in 1979 to carry I-275 across the Ohio River. A damage inspection after the crash revealed only minor scratches to the railings and small breaks in the concrete.