Man, Woman and Child Stuck on Car in Icy River: Police Intervene When Man Pulls Out Knife
Early Sunday morning while most residents of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, were asleep in their beds, a man, woman and child were in a dire situation in the Susquehanna River.
At around 3:30 a.m., city workers spotted what appeared to be a car in the river, with people sitting on top of it, according to WGAL-TV.
District Attorney of Dauphin County Fran Chardo told WHTM-TV that the workers called the police, and first responders were soon on the way.
It was discovered that the passengers seated atop the vehicle were a man (Miquel Maldanodo Jr.), an unnamed woman and a 2-year-old.
At some point after police arrived, Maldanodo Jr. complicated the situation by brandishing a knife — estimated to have been four to six inches in length — and reportedly began shouting, “Shoot me. Shoot me.”
Police attempted to de-escalate the situation so they could safely remove all three people, but the man then turned on the woman and police fired four shots at him, WHTM reported.
Maldanodo fell into the water and, as of the time of publication, still has not been found.
Harrisburg Bureau Fire Department then used a tower truck to rescue the woman and child and pull them to safety.
Both the woman and child were taken to the Penn State Hershey Medical Center and are expected to be fine.
Police have continued the search for Maldanodo but icy conditions Sunday night forced them to call off the search until the weather improved.
“At approximately 0328 hours, Squad 8, Boat 1 (Ladder2), Boat 10 (Harrisburg River Rescue), and Boat 37 (Rescue Fire Co.) were dispatched to the Susquehanna River (Box 1-9) in the area of I-83 for a vehicle in the water with occupants on the roof,” the Harrisburg Bureau of Fire Station 1 Facebook page shared.
“Upon P. D. arriving on scene, three occupants were reported on the roof of the vehicle.
“A police incident unfolded from there that preceded the rescue of two occupants from the roof of the vehicle by Tower 1 (video link below). The ‘D’ Platoon working.”
It is not clear how the car ended up in the river in the first place, though police did confirm that it was not the result of a police chase. The investigation concerning the cause of the accident and Maldanodo’s location is ongoing.
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