CLEVELAND — A man is facing charges after he drove his SUV into the Cuyahoga River early Monday.
Firefighters and first responders spent hours Monday searching for the 2018 Jeep Compass using sonar. They located the SUV Monday afternoon, and the vehicle's owner will have it removed from the water using a private tow service, police said Tuesday morning.
Police say the vehicle was traveling down Elm Avenue near the Stonebridge Apartments in the Flats when the driver crossed Riverbed Street, drove through a grassy area and down into the river.
The car's driver, a 43-year-old Cuyahoga Falls resident, escaped and swam to shore. He later returned to the scene Monday afternoon and filed a crash report with Cleveland police 14 hours later. He is charged with reckless operation, failure to control and driving the wrong direction on a one-way street.