Truck plunges into Newport Harbor

A Palm Desert man who drove his truck into the water near the Newport Beach city yacht basin early Saturday was arrested on suspicion of drunk driving, police said.

Dive teams searched the wreckage area for nearly two hours after Jack Allanach, 24, told them someone else was still inside the submerged car, police said.

Police found no evidence that another person was inside the car at the time of the accident, Newport Beach Sgt. Bill Hartford said.

A witness saw the truck drive off the end of Harbor Island Drive, across from the Galley restaurant, at 1:25 a.m., and launch into the water about 50 feet out, Newport Beach Battalion Chief Dave Mais said. The witness saw a man come to the surface, swim to the sea wall and pull himself out of the water.

When firefighters first arrived, they could not find the driver of the car and began searching the water for possible victims.

“We’re assuming somebody’s in the water until we find out otherwise,” Mais said.

Rescue crews found the vehicle, a small truck with a camper shell, in about 15 feet of water. Police, fire and lifeguard officials dove in the water but found no one, Mais said.

Police learned that a witness had spotted a man swim out from the wreckage. Once they found Allanach and interviewed him, he told police there was a woman in the car with him at the time of the accident, Mais said.

Concerned that someone was still trapped in the truck, dive teams searched until 3 a.m., and the Orange County Sheriff’s Harbor Patrol used sonar equipment to search the wreckage.

“You only have a brief period of time to save somebody in that situation,” Mais said.

The truck was pulled from the water at 5:15 a.m., and crews searched the seafloor underneath the wreck. A passenger was not recovered, and police are confident there was no one else inside the truck. Police interviewed employees where Allanach had last been seen drinking and were told he was not with anyone and had left alone, Hartford said.

Emergency response agencies can bill for services in traffic accidents where the driver is found to be under the influence, Hartford said.