Lincoln Highway reopened after car crashed into NIU east lagoon in DeKalb

DeKALB - A portion of West Lincoln Highway was reopened after a brief closure Friday morning following an incident where a car crashed into the East Lagoon on Northern Illinois University campus, said DeKalb Police Chief David Byrd.

Byrd said police are still investigating what caused the crash, though no injuries were reported in the incident.

The call came in to DeKalb police for a car crashed into the lagoon around 7:30 a.m. Friday, said Police Cmdr. Chadd McNett. There were no other cars involved in the incident.

“Looks like what happened was the car was in a driveway across Lincoln Highway and the driver mistakenly thought the car was in park,” said McNett. “He was still in the car when it rolled backwards. He became flustered and was unable to throw the car back in park or even hit the breaks.”

McNett said the car rolled out of the driveway and north across Lincoln Highway without hitting any other cars, hopped the curb and crashed into the lagoon. Police don’t expect any charges to come from the incident, McNett said.

“There’s nothing that appears to indicate it was high speed, it looks like an accidental over-acceleration,” McNett said. “The turf isn’t torn up, there’s tire tracks but it’s not torn up like where we would see in an accident at higher speed. There’s no evidence of that. So it looks looks like a low speed accidental occurrence.”

McNett said the lagoon is only a few feet deep, and the car entered the water near the shore. When first responders arrived, the driver was sitting on top of his car waiting to be rescued, McNett said. The car was towed from the scene, and crews from the DeKalb Fire Department helped the driver.

According to a news release from the fire department, firefighters held a water rescue for the man, donning dry suits and special equipment to wade to the vehicle during Friday morning’s 30-degree temperatures. A boat was brought in to bring the driver, who was about 50 feet from the shore, out of the lagoon.

The drive was given a full medical evaluation by DeKalb paramedics after the incident, according to the release, and refused hospital transport.

DeKalb police issued a citywide emergency alert earlier Friday morning asking residents to avoid the 400 block of West Lincoln Highway while they investigated the crash.

According to the alert sent shortly before 8 a.m. Friday, the block was closed down temporarily for the accident response and police asked drivers to use an alternate route.

McNett said westbound traffic on Lincoln Highway was halted briefly so that the tow truck and first responders could get the car out of the lagoon.

The road was reopened by 8:45 a.m.

Crews from the Sycamore Fire Department and Northern Illinois University assisted.

This story has been updated as of 11:50 a.m. Friday, Nov. 19, 2021 with additional comments from DeKalb Police Cmdr. Chad McNett.