ANDERSON COUNTY (WVLT) – A man was hospitalized Monday evening after allegedly driving his truck into Melton Hill Lake.

Anderson County authorities were called to the scene at the intersection of Melton Lake Drive and Emory Valley Road around 5:30 p.m.

Oak Ridge Fire Crews arrived on the scene in minutes only to discover that a neighbor, who had witnessed the crash, rushed to the lake to pull the driver out.

“What we found were some bystanders with him,” said Capt. Charlie Elliott of the Oak Ridge Fire Department. “A resident of Oak Ridge apparently heard it, went in, got the man out of the truck and got him up to the shore.”

The neighbor had also performed CPR on the driver. The driver was apparently conscience at the crash scene, and was later flown to the University of Tennessee Medical Center for treatment.

Officials also said the truck was fully submerged when they arrived on the scene. The Knoxville Volunteer Rescue Squad was called in and used its dive team to confirm there was no one else inside the truck. Once they were sure no one else was inside, Oak Ridge Police told the divers to let it sink to the bottom.

“We're unsure why the police department isn't going to have it removed,” said Capt. Elliott. “They wanted to do a search on it to make sure there was no one else in the vehicle, and then made the determination for now they were going to leave it in the water.”

Capt. Elliott confirmed there have been four or five cars that wound up in the Melton Hill Reservoir over the last few years. One of the most recent occurred on Oct 15, 2008 when a woman drove into the water at nearly the same exact spot as Monday’s driver in order to commit suicide.

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UPDATE:

ANDERSON COUNTY (WVLT) – A man was hospitalized Monday evening after allegedly driving his car into Melton Hill Lake.

Anderson County authorities were called to the scene at the intersection of Melton Lake Drive and Emory Valley Road around 5:30 p.m.

According to rescue crews, a neighbor saw the car drive into the lake and rushed to pull him out. By the time fire and EMS crews were on the scene, the car was completely submerged.

The Knoxville Volunteer Rescue Squad confirms no one else was in the car at the time of the crash.

The man was taken from the scene to a nearby landing zone, and flown to The University of Tennessee Medical Center to undergo treatment. His condition has not been released.