Woman falls asleep at wheel, crashes into pond

COLUMBUS, Ind. (WISH/Republic) - A Columbus woman escaped injury after falling asleep behind the wheel and driving her van into a retention pond, according to our newsgather partners at the Republic.

At about 7:15 a.m. this morning, Columbus Police Department was called to the 1400 block of North U.S. 31, where a van had crashed into a pond.

Patrolman Ben Quesenbery was first to arrive on scene and found the vehicle half submerged with its driver still inside, according to a release from Columbus Police Department.

Quesenbery waded into the waist-deep water to investigate and found the vehicle filling with water and sitting precariously on a slope where it could easily slide further into the pond.

Officers freed the 50-year-old woman from the van and escorted her safety ashore where she refused medical treatment, police reported.

The woman, whom police did not identify, told officers that she was driving north on U.S. 31 on her way to visit her husband at an Indianapolis hospital when she fell asleep behind the wheel of the van and crashed.

Columbus Fire Department and an ambulance crew from Columbus Regional Hospital assisted with the accident.