A Chesterton police officer and the Chesterton Street Commissioner, John Schnadenberg rescued a passenger from a water-filled ditch on Tuesday, according to a post made on the Town of Chesterton Facebook page.
According to the post, Schnadenberg was pulling onto Ind. 49 at around 1 p.m. Tuesday, May 3, when he heard over his radio a report of a car, which had just left the northbound lanes of Ind. 49, had entered a ditch in front of the CVS, and was filling with water.
On his arrival Schnadenberg discovered that, the car was submerged up to the top of its front tires. So he went down into the ditch and waded through the water to see if the woman behind the wheel was okay. The woman was okay and Schnadenberg then asked her if she could extricate herself through the window. She couldn’t.
According to the post, “By that point, Schnadenberg had been joined in the ditch by Chesterton Police Officer Arwen LaMotte, who took control of the scene, tugged open the door, and with Schnadenberg’s assistance helped the woman out of the car, through the water, and up to dry land.”
“The woman—who, Fire Chief Eric Camel said, appears simply to have left the roadway—subsequently refused medical treatment at the scene.”
“Schnadenberg—who over the course of 33 years worked 8,600 volunteer hours as a Chesterton Police Reserve officer, retiring in 2020 with the rank of sergeant—said that he used to do that kind of thing a lot, as a routine part of the job. Now not so much.”
“But I was right there, thought I should check it out,” Schnadenberg said. “All I did was assist Arwen.”