Man missing, woman rescued after car plunges into spillway

WRIGHT PATMAN LAKE, Texas (KSLA) — Authorities have suspended their efforts to locate a man who went missing when an SUV crashed through a barrier and into the Wright Patman Lake spillway.

Divers pulled the vehicle (a 2000 Chevy Yukon) from the water late the night of Sunday, April 4, but no one was inside. Searchers renewed their quest to find the missing man the morning of Monday, April 5.

A woman also was in the vehicle when it crashed and sank around 6 p.m. Sunday. That woman has been identified as Lucia Mendoza, 29, of Texarkana. She suffered non-life-threatening injuries and was taken to a local hospital for treatment.

Dustin Roach was among the people there fishing when it happened. He says he looked around and nobody was doing anything, so he felt compelled to act.

“She popped up right there out in the water,” Roach said of the woman he pulled to safety. “I seen her head pop up and I just jumped in, and we come out all the way down there at that tree.”

She was taken to a hospital. Her condition is not immediately known.

Hours later, divers located the sunken SUV and floated the vehicle so it could be searched.

This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.

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