Hovercraft Used to Retrieve Man Who Wandered into Marsh
From the Atlantic City Press Published: Saturday, January 12, 2008
By LYNDA COHEN Staff Writer, 609-272-7257
PLEASANTVILLE - It wasn't the usual view for one motorist traveling the Atlantic City Expressway on Friday afternoon. A man was in the marshes, the driver told State Police in a call made after 12:30 p.m.
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David Ford, of Pleasantville, had walked into the thick, muddy marsh off Old Turnpike Road and would not come out.
"We know he has some mental problems," Pleasantville's Capt. Frank Balles said. "Our guys have taken him to crisis intervention at least three times in the last month. They keep releasing him."
On Friday police were worried the man could die in the 40-degree water. But Pleasantville doesn't have the equipment to travel out into the marsh.
So, they called around and found that the Scullville Volunteer Fire Company had a Hovercraft perfect for the job. Scullville Firefighter Chad Warmoth drove the boatlike vehicle - which rides on a cushion of air - down the path into the marshes. Pleasantville Officer Herbert Simons joined him.
When the got out to Ford, he was speaking gibberish, Simons said. He was not cooperative.
"I just pulled him into the boat and was able to subdue him there," Simons said.
Warmoth said he was trained on the department's Hover II about four years ago, but there aren't a lot of calls.
"It's rare, because people don't know we have the equipment," said Warmoth, a 14-year volunteer with the company.
Police estimated Ford, who is in his 50s, was in the water for about two hours just by how long it would have taken to trudge through the deep mud to where he was.
"He was wet from head to toe," Warmoth said.
Ford was driven from the scene in the back of a Pleasantville patrol car. He would first be treated for any possible injuries, then mentally evaluated, Balles said.
On the way to the scene, a hose fell off of the firetruck pulling the Hovercraft along the Black Horse Pike near Noah's Road here, breaking the windshield of a car, Balles said. No one was injured.
*EVFC members can listen to the whole call recording by logging in and going to the*Members Only* media gallery.
