Ormond Beach Man Dead After Vehicle Sinks in Pond.

Written by Kristen Schmutz

Belden Communications News

A 68-year-old Ormond Beach man was pronounced dead over the weekend after sustaining injuries when his vehicle went into a pond, leaving him trapped inside.

According to a news release sent out by Daytona Beach Police Department Monday, two Daytona Beach Police Officers arrived on the scene quickly. They freed the man from his sinking vehicle – a 2006 blue Buick four-door passenger car – soon after it went into the water near the back-parking lot of the Daytona Beach News-Journal building off of 6th St., last Thursday.

Witnesses reported the accident to dispatchers just after 3 p.m. on Thursday.

Captain Byron Williams and Detective Collin Howell – two officers who were near the area when dispatchers requested assistance – were the first to arrive on the scene. Both officers swam out to the Buick, pulling the driver from the water after taking off his seat belt and removing him from inside of the car.

The driver was intubated by paramedics before he was transported to Halifax Health Medical Center as a trauma alert but in stable condition.

The man died two days later at Halifax Hospital.

A 52-year-old Daytona Beach man, a passenger inside the Buick, managed to free himself from the vehicle getting out of the water before first responders made it on the scene. The passenger was medically cleared at HHMC before being arrested by Daytona Beach Police Department on an open Orange County Sheriff’s Office warrant for failure to appear in court.

That warrant is unrelated to this incident.

According to the passenger, he and the driver were drinking alcohol just before they got inside the Buick and attempted to leave the DBNJ back parking lot.

As the driver went to pull out of the parking lot, the Buick struck a ground berm, causing the vehicle to go airborne prompting the vehicle to land in the pond.

Charges are not expected to be filed in this case.

This is the third fatal accident reported in Daytona Beach during Bike Week 2021.