A Kanawha County man died on Friday morning when the pickup truck he was driving plunged until the Elk River in Charleston.
Jason Alexander Leadmon, 41, of Clendenin, veered off Lee Street, traveled through a parking area under Interstate 64, crossed Pennsylvania Avenue against traffic and struck a car with his truck before entering the river, according to police. The incident happened shortly after 10 a.m.
A trio of Charleston Police Department patrolmen, who spotted air bubbles emerging from the submerged vehicle, jumped into the frigid river in an attempt to rescue Leadmon. A few minutes later, divers from the Charleston Fire Department's water rescue team arrived at the scene and managed to free the driver and bring him to shore.
"We heard he had a pulse, so at least there's some hope," said Sgt. Mark Kinder of the Charleston Police Department's traffic division, shortly after the driver was pulled from the river and loaded into an ambulance.
However, Leadmon was pronounced dead at Charleston Area Medical Center's General Hospital later Friday, according to a police department news release.
Two police officers were taken to Saint Francis Hospital and treated for hypothermia, according to the release. At least one firefighter was treated for possible hypothermia as well.
Kinder said the pickup was traveling east on Lee Street at the time of the accident.
"He didn't slow down at all," said Matthew Mullins, the driver of the vehicle struck by the pickup truck. After veering off Lee Street, the truck "went straight across the parking lot, missed the [I-64 support] pillars, hit us and went right in the river," Mullins said.
A short time later, Mullins said, "the cops went in after him."
"I thought he would T-bone us, but he managed to swerve and just clipped us," said Mullins' mother, Dawn, a passenger in the car. "I think he may have been having some kind of health issue. He had his hands on the wheel. I think he went through the parking lot trying to avoid the intersection."
Police said they were still investigating the cause of the accident.
Reach Rick Steelhammer at rsteelhammer@wvgazette.com, 304-348-5169 or follow @rsteelhammer on Twitter.