TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2000
Coroner says man drowned after car rolled into shallow pond
By Erik Burriss
Staff Writer
An annual tradition turned fatal Saturday evening when a 29-year-old Fremont man drowned after driving a car into a pond about two miles southeast of Green Springs.
Greg A. Johnson, 1232 Franklin Ave., Fremont, was driving a Ford Taurus painted in Ohio State University colors around a makeshift track at the pond at 6365 N. SR 101 after the Michigan-Ohio State game Saturday when he lost control of the vehicle. The car rolled over onto its top in the pond, where Seneca County sheriff's deputies later measured the water to be 19 inches deep. Several people who witnessed the accident jumped into the water, rolled the car to its side and pulled Johnson out.
The cardiopulmonary resuscitation they attempted after he was on land failed, and Johnson was pronounced dead later at Mercy Hospital of Tiffin.
An autopsy preformed by the Lucas County Coroner's Office concluded Johnson died of "accidental drowning," Seneca County Coroner Donald Shanabrook said.
The track's owner told Sheriff H. Weldin Neff that the makeshift track is only used at an annual gathering for the game. Neff also said that Johnson had not driven the car on the track before the accident.
"We were told they were timing different drivers of the car to see who could make it through the dirt track with the fastest time," Neff said.
To read his obituary, click here.