MAN ENDS UP IN THE BLACK RIVER

AFTER RUNNING FROM DEPUTIES

PHOTO PAGE

Elyria – An alert Lorain County Deputy Sheriff spotted a reported stolen car early this morning in Elyria. When the Deputy attempted to make a traffic stop the driver took off. Following a brief pursuit the car pulled over on Water Street and the driver fled the vehicle with Deputies in toe.

The driver, 33-year-old Melvin J. Blue, ran down to the riverbank and tried to cross the river but ended up falling through the ice. Blue, while waist high in freezing water, made the decision to turn around and return to the bank where Deputies were waiting for him.

Assistant Chief Ron Brlas of the Elyria Fire Department said that they received simultaneous calls from the Elyria Police Department and the Lorain County Sheriff’s Department requesting help getting the man up from the riverbank. “The problem was that the cliff was so steep that the Deputies were unable to get the man back up to the road. Plus the time he spent in the river, although not a long period of time, hypothermia was setting in so he wouldn’t have been much help climbing.”

Chief Brlas said that the crew from Rescue 31 down to access the man’s injuries while the other Firefighters worked to set up a rope system to send a basket down to retrieve the victim.

Once the rope system was in place the basket was sent down and the Firefighters with the victim secured him inside of it then signaled to start pulling him up. A line of Firefighters tended to the rope line and together followed the signals of Chief Brlas who stood at the top of the cliff observing the rescue.

When Blue made it back to the top he was met with a slew of Deputies and LifeCare Ambulance Paramedics. Blue was transported to Elyria Memorial Hospital to be treated for possible hypothermia.

When asked if the rescue was hampered at all by the cold weather and falling snow Chief Brlas said no. “We didn’t really have to do anything differently then we normally would in nice weather. You do run into problems with the rope because it becomes frozen and it becomes harder to maneuver and of course you have to be extra careful with slip injuries of people slipping back down them embankment themselves.” Chief Brlas said that when it was all done no Deputies, Elyria Police Officers or any Firefighters were injured.

Captain Richard Resendez of the Lorain County Sheriff’s Department said that the car Blue was in had been reported stolen out of Lorain. Blue he said has been charged with Receiving Stolen Property, Resisting Arrest and Failure to Comply. Blue is currently being held in the Lorain County Jail.



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