BLUE LAKES ? One passenger in a car that ran off Highway 20 about 2:20 a.m. Wednesday and plunged into Blue Lakes didn”t escape and died, California Highway Patrol reported.
Two other passengers and a Blue Lakes woman tried to dive down to the submerged car to help Jared Templeton, 21, of Kelseyville, but couldn”t get deep enough in the cold water, Officer Steve Tanguay of CHP said.
The Upper Lake Fire Department pronounced Templeton dead at the scene, Tanguay said.
Tanguay said he doesn”t know why Templeton didn”t break free from the car.
Heather Thompson, 22, of Lakeport was driving west in her 1988 Ford Thunderbird in the rain when she came out of a curve and lost control, Tanguay said. The Thunderbird veered left off the road, hit a tree and continued out of control into the lake.
As the car submerged, Thompson, Zachary Walston, 23, of Lakeport and Kathleen Riley, 21, of Kelseyville got out and made it safely to shore.
Walston and Riley dove back in to try to help Templeton out of the front passenger seat, Tanguay said.
Rosanna Colp of Blue Lakes said she heard a woman screaming and drove to the crash and jumped into the water to try to pull out Templeton.
“The water was so cold,” Colp said. “I couldn”t get enough breath to go deep enough.”
She said the car was submerged vertically in the water with its headlights on but she couldn”t go deeper than the headlights. Colp said she”s an emergency medical technician and Navy firefighter.
“I know I tried my best, but I still feel bad,” Colp said. “Like I could have saved him.”
The Upper Lake Fire Department responded with a dive team, which could not retrieve Templeton while the vehicle was submerged about 3:30 a.m., Tanguay said.
Crews towed the car out of the water.
Ambulances transported Thompson, Walston and Riley to Sutter Lakeside Hospital for minor injuries, Tanguay said.
Chief Pat Brown said the car was submerged in about 15 feet below the surface just before the narrow section of Upper Blue Lakes.
Everyone in the car was wearing seatbelts.
CHP does not suspect alcohol to be a factor in the crash.
The Northshore Fire Protection District responded with three engines, three ambulances, one rescue dive team, one extrication rescue team and two battalion chiefs. A medic from Lakeport fire also responded, bringing the team to 16 personnel.
CHP is still investigating the crash.
Northshore fire contacted the Department of Fish and Game, Environmental Health, Office of Emergency Services and worked with the Lake County Sheriff”s Office for a possible hazardous material spill into Blue Lakes.
Contact Katy Sweeny at ksweeny@record-bee.com or call her directly at 263-5636, ext. 37.
