Mishap On Taunton Lake—

Fishing Tale:

The One That Got Away

By Andrew Gorosko

In the predawn darkness as local anglers were preparing to start fishing on the first day of trout season on Saturday, April 21, an unusual mishap resulted in a pickup truck and an attached boat trailer becoming submerged in Taunton Lake at the Newtown Fish & Game Club’s boat launch at 11 Taunton Lake Road.

There were no injuries, police said.

Police said that at about 4:21 am, Brian McEachern, 63, of Fairfield, who is a club member, was backing his 2001 Dodge Ram pickup truck and boat trailer toward the water to launch his untethered trailered boat into the lake.

While backing up the boat in the darkness, he opened the driver’s side door on the truck and was leaning out of the door to better see where he was backing, but in doing so, McEachern lost his balance, police said.

McEachern then began falling out of the truck’s cab and tried to apply the vehicle’s brakes but was unable to do so, police said.

McEachern fell out of the truck. The truck and the attached trailer behind the truck continued moving backward, entering the lake and becoming submerged in about eight to ten feet of water, police said.

McEachern was able to get out of the water with minimal assistance from bystanders and he declined medical assistance, police said. A bystander gave McEachern a blanket for warmth, according to police Officer Robert Haas, who investigated the incident.

After receiving a report of the incident, Newtown Underwater Search And Rescue (NUSAR) scuba divers and Newtown Hook & Ladder firefighters were dispatched to the scene.

 Hook & Ladder Chief Jason Rivera said firefighters initially ensured that the victim was safe and then handled the environmental protection aspects of the situation.

The firefighters placed absorbent booms on the lake’s surface to collect any automotive fluids that rose upward from the submerged pickup truck, Chief Rivera said.

A very small amount of automotive fluid reached the lake’s surface, perhaps a few ounces, he said.

The state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) was informed of the incident, but did not send an inspector, he said.

DEEP spokeswoman Cyndy Chanaca said April 25 that after learning of the incident, DEEP officials opted to allow local emergency services staff to handle the matter.

About two hours after the truck and trailer became submerged, a wrecker fished the truck and attached boat trailer from the water. A NUSAR diver had attached cables for the towing.

Newtown Fish & Game Club President Frank Hufner said that emergency services members “did a great job” in dealing with the mishap. “There were plenty of rescue people and police,” he said.

Mr Hufner said that when he arrived at the boat launch shortly after the incident occurred, he spotted the pickup truck’s illuminated headlamps glowing underwater offshore, indicating that something was wrong.

The boat which had been sitting atop the trailer was retrieved from the surface of the lake, he said.

Mr Hufner, who has used the club’s facilities for several decades, said he cannot recall such an incident occurring at the boat launch.

“It was just an unfortunate incident. Nobody got hurt,” he added.