Police say a driver became confused during heavy rainfall and mistook a walking path for a roadway before driving into a drainage culvert, requiring firefighters to rescue two people in Mundelein last weekend.
The Mundelein Police Department and Mundelein Fire Department responded around 12:57 p.m. Sunday to the area of the Courtland Commons Park, 400 East Courtland Street in Mundelein, for a report of a car in the water.
Emergency responders arrived to find a Nissan Altima sedan that was in a drainage culvert along a stream of water underneath a pedestrian overpass near East Courtland Street and Midland Avenue.
Firefighters successfully rescued the two occupants in the Nissan, Mundelein Battalion Fire Chief James Ketcham said.
Two ambulances responded to the scene.
Neither of the occupants required transport to the hospital.
One firefighter was taken to the hospital as a precautionary measure, Ketcham added.
No other injuries were reported.
The incident initially generated a large fire/rescue response involving divers, but most of the response was cancelled after the pair was rescued.
Mundelein Police Chief Thomas Poynor said Friday that the investigation showed the driver became confused while driving in the heavy downpour.
They mistook a walking path for a road when attempting to exit the Mundelein Shopping Center parking lot.
The vehicle drove off the pathway and into the stream where it was stuck in the drainage culvert, Poynor said. There were no citations issued to the driver.
There was heavy rainfall and minor flash flooding for parts of the county at the time.
A heavy wrecker from Ernie’s Wrecker Service responded and removed the Nissan from the water by lifting it out with a crane boom before it was towed from the scene.
Part of the walking path at the park was closed off while crews were tending to the scene.
The Mundelein Police Department is investigating the cause of the crash.