Toms River Woman, Passenger Pulled From Water After Accidentally Driving into Lagoon

A Pennsylvania man helped two women to shore as their car sank into a lagoon at the south end of Bay Avenue in Point Pleasant, police there said Monday.

No one was injured in the May 3 incident.

James Surdykowski of Pennsylvania jumped into the water along the south end of the Point Pleasant Canal, helped the two women out of the car and back to shore, said Lt. Michael Colwell in a prepared statement.

The police statement reports:

The 27-year-old woman from Toms River who had been driving the 2005 Lexus said she had been trying to pull into a parking space on the south end of Bay Avenue in the Bay Point Harbour Condo complex.

She said she had accidentally pressed the accelerator instead of the brake as she was attempting to park the car in the space which was next to a small lagoon along the south end of the canal.

"As she pressed on the accelerator instead of the brake, the car jumped over the curb there, struck a small tree and then drove over the edge of the bulkhead and into the water," the statement says.

The driver and her passenger, a 39-year-old woman from Bayville, were able to get of the car while it was in the water, with Surdykowski helping them.

He had been on his friend's boat when he saw the accident, jumped into the water with two life jackets and swam to the car. The water there was about three to four feet deep.

The women were treated for hypothermia by the Point Pleasant Borough First Aid Squad and transported to Ocean Medical Center in Brick.

The accident is being investigated by Officer Robert Wells and no summonses have been issued.

Police are not releasing the names of the two women or any other details.

The Point Pleasant Borough Fire Department, its scuba team and the state Marine Police also responded.