Driver dead after SUV found partially submerged in Lake Marion: PCSO

HAINES CITY, Fla. - The Polk County Sheriff's Office is investigating the death of a 64-year-old man whose SUV was found partially submerged in Lake Marion Friday evening.

The backstory:

Shortly before 9 p.m., deputies responded to reports of a vehicle with its lights on and its front end in the water at the end of the Lake Marion boat ramp, near Jim Edwards Road and Edwards Shores in Haines City.

Deputies and Polk County Fire Rescue crews arrived at the scene, where the back of an SUV was sticking out of the water. Inside the vehicle, the driver, a Lake Wales man, was fully underwater and still wearing his seat belt.

First responders removed the man from the vehicle and began CPR. The man was taken to a local hospital, where he passed away shortly after.

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During the rescue, deputies also discovered a small dog swimming inside an air pocket in the back of the vehicle. The dog was saved and will be turned over to the man’s next of kin.

Investigators searched the scene from above and underwater with drones. No other victims were found, PCSO said.

The man’s family told PCSO they tried to contact him around 6:30 p.m., after being involved in an unrelated crash in Lake Hamilton. When he never responded, they did not know what had happened to him.

According to evidence at the scene, investigators believe the man was traveling in his SUV northbound on Jim Edwards Road and failed to turn onto West Lake Marion Road, continuing north onto the boat ramp and into the water.

The vehicle’s driver’s side window was down, the airbags did not deploy and there and there was no damage to the vehicle indicating a collision with anything other than the water had occurred, PCSO said.

Investigators say there were no witnesses or video evidence of the crash.

What's next:

An autopsy will determine the man’s exact cause of death.