Friday, November 16, 2007

Woodbridge man pulled from reservoir dies

New Haven Register, Thursday, November 15, 2007
By Lauren Garrison, Register Staff

Seymour – The Woodbridge man whose pickup truck plunged into the Peat Swamp Reservoir off Haddad Road Tuesday morning died later that afternoon at Yale-New Haven Hospital, police confirmed Wednesday.

He was identified as George Rumbold, 66, of 118 Ansonia Road, Woodbridge.
An autopsy conducted Wednesday morning determine that his death was caused by asphyxia due to drowning, according to a spokesman from the state Medical Examiners’s Office.

According to Seymour police, a preliminary investigation revealed that Rumbold’s 1990 Ford F-250 pickup truck was traveling on Haddad Road when it “failed to negotiate a curve, left the travel portion of the roadway, slid down an embankment, overturned and landed in approximately for to six feet of water trapping Mr. Rumbold inside.”

Police noted the road, which has many curves, was “wet at the time from recent rains and covered with leaves and pine needles.”

Police do not believe speed was a factor in the accident.

There are currently no know witnesses to the accident.

Anyone traveling in the area who may have seen the pickup before the accident is asked to call Sgt. David Parratt, the lead investigator, at 881-7600.Rumbold’s family could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

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