Police say they have located and charged a driver who fled after crashing his car into a pond before it was found fully submerged, prompting the fire department to conduct a search in Cary.
The Cary Fire Protection District responded around 7:40 p.m. Monday to the area of Detroit Street just north of Crystal Woods Circle in Cary for a report of a vehicle in a pond.
Cary Police Department Deputy Chief Scott Naydenoff said a passerby spotted the car and called 911.
Fire crews arrived within minutes and located a vehicle that had left the roadway, traveled down an embankment and entered the water, according to Cary Fire Protection District Public Information Officer Alex Vucha.
The vehicle was fully submerged and it was initially unknown whether it was occupied. No one saw the vehicle actually enter the water, Naydenoff said.
Rescue divers entered the pond and conducted a systematic search — checking the front and rear seats as well as the trunk compartment, Vucha said.
The vehicle was confirmed to be unoccupied.
The driver and any possible occupants were not present at the scene, Vucha said.
Police checked the car’s registered address and had not located the driver or any possible occupants as of 9 p.m.
Naydenoff said officers made contact with the registered owner at the residence but initially they were not believe to be the one who was driving at the time.
The incident was then upgraded through the Mutual Aid Box Alarm System (MABAS) to request sonar equipment and additional personnel to the scene.
The use of sonar technology and drone resources was conducted “out of an abundance of caution and as part of due diligence” to ensure no one was submerged in the pond, Vucha said.
Searches of the water continued, with sonar resources arriving a short time later to assist with further scanning of the body of water.
No driver or occupants were located in the water. Naydenoff said it is believed the vehicle was only occupied by the driver at the time of the crash.
The vehicle was removed from the water around 11 p.m. and remaining fire crews cleared the scene shortly after 11:30 p.m.
Naydenoff said in an update that the vehicle’s owner, Ivan Bonar, 40, of Cary, was located and cited for leaving the scene of a crash, failure to notify the police of a crash, improper lane usage and failure to reduce speed to avoid a crash.
Police did not say why Bonar allegedly fled the scene. He was cited and released from custody with a court date of August 12.