Aurora Fire Rescue and South Metro Fire Rescue responded to a submerged pickup truck in a retention pond at General’s Park, 1561 Quentin St., in Aurora Tuesday morning. PHOTO COURTESY OF AURORA FIRE RESCUE 
Aurora Fire Rescue and South Metro Fire Rescue responded to a submerged pickup truck in a retention pond at General’s Park, 1561 Quentin St., in Aurora Tuesday morning. PHOTO COURTESY OF AURORA FIRE RESCUE 
Aurora Fire Rescue and South Metro Fire Rescue responded to a submerged pickup truck in a retention pond at General’s Park, 1561 Quentin St., in Aurora Tuesday morning. PHOTO COURTESY OF AURORA FIRE RESCUE 
Aurora Fire Rescue and South Metro Fire Rescue responded to a submerged pickup truck in a retention pond at General’s Park, 1561 Quentin St., in Aurora Tuesday morning. PHOTO COURTESY OF AURORA FIRE RESCUE 
Aurora Fire Rescue and South Metro Fire Rescue responded to a submerged pickup truck in a retention pond at General’s Park, 1561 Quentin St., in Aurora Tuesday morning. PHOTO COURTESY OF AURORA FIRE RESCUE
AURORA | Aurora Fire Rescue pulled a fully-submerged pickup truck out of a north-Aurora retention pond Tuesday following a two-car crash two days before.
The driver was able to escape from the truck and the frozen pond essentially uninjured, according to fire rescue officials.
AFR and South Metro Fire Rescue responded to an incident located at a retention pond at General’s Park, 1561 Quentin St., in Aurora at about 7:30 p.m., according to fire and police officials.
One car went into the pond after a car-crash adjacent to the park. The driver was able to safely exit the car before calling first responders.
Police identified the driver as 38-year-old Adrian Lopez-Villezcas of Denver. Police said he faces charges of DUI, running a red light and driving with a revoked driver’s license, according to police.
No one else was in the car at the time of the accident. First responders transported one other person who was involved in the car-crash to a nearby hospital. Fire officials did not specify whether the patient was a driver or a passenger.
AFR extracted the fully submerged vehicle from the pond on Tuesday, which was not visible from the surface of the pond because it had frozen over.
South Metro’s Dive Team broke the ice to gain access to the water then sent divers into the water to assess the vehicle’s condition. A second dive team then connected the vehicle to towing cables and a wrecking truck pulled the vehicle to shore. AFR and Falck Rocky Mountain crews provided medical and shore support, according to the press statement.
In total, nine AFR and South Metro vehicles were involved with the effort to pull the vehicle out of the water, officials said.
How far did the driver travel from the road to the retention pond?
Why is Adrian Lopez-Villezcas’ driver license revoked?
This strains belief, given that this park is surrounded by metal fencing on both Peoria and Colfax, and the General’s Pond is in the center of the park. Though it’s been redesigned, the pond retains its legacy name due to President Eisenhower having fished there while a patient at Fitzsimons Hospital.
For someone to have crashed into that pond from either Colfax or Peoria, high speed causing considerable damage in the path had to be involved. Who pays for that damage and the substantial effort to retrieve the vehicle?