VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) — Several days after a car went off the end of the 14th Street Fishing Pier at the Virginia Beach Oceanfront, it remains underwater, and police Tuesday were looking into a possible connection to a missing person.
Monday, Virginia Beach Police detailed the timeline of the response to date and released video showing the submerged vehicle. The video was shot by a remote operated vehicle (ROV), a submersible from the city of Chesapeake.
Sgt. Brian Ricardo with VBPD Special Operations, in a Monday media briefing, had provided updates on the vehicle recovery, noting there is a three-pronged approach to the VBPD investigation — a water component, the traffic safety team, and the Detective Bureau, which is looking into the potential death investigation.
Ricardo could only speak to the water component of the investigation, which he manages and involves the marine patrol and dive team.
The car crashed through the metal gate at the entrance of the pier just before 7 a.m. Saturday and traveled to the end, where it went in the water.
There is still no word who, if anyone, was in the vehicle, or why the incident happened.
Tuesday, VBPD provided another update on the investigation and confirmed it had been contacted by the family of a missing person and said the case has “similarities to facts and circumstances our detectives have identified as part of the investigation into the 14th St. pier incident.”
While they confirmed similarities, police said they are unable at this point in the investigation to confirm if the missing person case is actually associated with the car in the water.
“Nobody wants to bring resolution to this more than we do,” Ricardo said. “We are as frustrated as everyone else that we can’t get in the water, and we can’t do something to get this moving forward.”
Once the car is recovered, if there is an occupant, the Medical Examiner’s Office will work to confirm the person’s identity.
As soon as the call about the incident went out, VBPD said multiple public agencies responded to the pier. The Virginia Beach Fire Department responded within four minutes and sent a rescue swimmer into the water first to try to locate the vehicle and potentially rescue anyone inside. By the time the VBPD team responded, the VBFD swimmers had already been pulled from the water.
The water at that location was 17-feet in depth at high tide, Ricardo said.
He said the first two of his officers on scene used side-scan sonar to search for the vehicle and as soon as they passed in front of the pier, they immediately located the car on sonar.
The sonar images showed the car is on its roof and is unstable. They are not worried about the car drifting, but crews cannot get into the vehicle until it is stabilized.
The images from the ROV did not show a license plate.
“Ocean currents measured 3.9 knots, 4X outside the safety parameters for VBPD’s divers. Strong currents & extremely low visibility made it too dangerous for divers to navigate & assess the area safely, especially near a submerged SUV rocking on its roof in the turbulent current,” VBPD said in a statement Monday.
Sunday, a crew from Crofton Diving Corporation contracted by Virginia Beach Police attempted to retrieve the vehicle from the ocean, but Virginia Beach Police confirmed they had to postpone the efforts because the waves were too violent.
“I can understand people’s frustrations,” Ricardo said. “But to tell you how dangerous it was, they broke two bridles that hold their cranes in place and they snapped a mooring line from the crane barge onto their dive boat.”
Crofton Salvage, based on several factors, will decide when it is safe to return to the water to continue recovery efforts.
“The goal of this mission remains to safely retrieve the vehicle, reunite any and all occupants with their loved ones, and maintain the integrity of all evidence,” Virginia Beach Police said.
Crofton has worked with VBPD divers in the past when vehicles have gone off the side of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel.
Stay with WAVY News 10 on-air and online for continued updates as so as we get them, on this developing situation.
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