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Crash Leads to Manhunt along Lackawanna River

FELL TOWNSHIP — Police and firefighters had to search the Lackawanna River Saturday morning after a man crashed his car into a funeral home and ran off. T...
lacka crash

FELL TOWNSHIP -- Police and firefighters had to search the Lackawanna River Saturday morning after a man crashed his car into a funeral home and ran off.

The crash happened just before dawn but police and firefighters weren't able to find the driver until the sun came up.

A pile of rubble could be seen on Main Street in Simpson after police say Rosendo Gauthier of Fell Township lost control of the car he was driving, landed on top of another car, and took out a wooden stairway on the side of the Scotchlas Funeral Home.

Photos of the crash were taken by Angela Waston who is the owner of the blue sedan, another car, and a fence that were all damaged

Neighbors were woken by a screech and a crash.

“Jumped out of bed, came outside, and found the car into the building on top of the other car,” said Peg Surdovel, a neighbor.

Witnesses say at first they worried the driver was dead but watched in surprise as he escaped.

“After about 5 minutes he came to, he started coming to, and he was kicking the windshield out, and trying everything he could to get out of the car,” explained Surdovel.

Witnesses say after the driver was out of the car, he ran around the area slamming his body into a garage and leaving a trail of blood.

Surdovel added, “All of a sudden he disappeared.”

Officials say the driver escaped through a narrow passage leading to the Lackawanna River.

“He kind of wedged himself in through there, but he forgot that there was a river there and took a big fall, it was not his day,” said Assistant Chief Frank Evarts, Gratton Singer Hose Company.

After the sun came up a member of the fire police found Gauthier across the river in a bush.

The driver was taken to the hospital but is expected to be okay

Police in Carbondale say they expect he will be charged with DUI.

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