West Tisbury woman cited after car plunges into Menemsha Creek

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A John Keene Excavation Company front end loader was called in to hoist the car from Menemsha Creek. Photo by Louis Jacobs-Walsh.

Up-Island rescue personnel converged on Menemsha creek Sunday morning after receiving a report of a vehicle completely submerged in the fast moving currents of the channel that separates Chilmark and Aquinnah.

Chilmark Police Chief Brian Cioffi said the female operator, identified as Amira Tranchell, 25, of West Tisbury, was driving alone and was able to get out of the vehicle unassisted around 1:30 am, Sunday.

Ms. Tranchell did not immediately notify police after the accident. Police contacted Ms. Transhell after identifying her as the registered owner of the vehicle. Interviewed that morning, Chief Cioffi said Ms. Tranchell, an employee at an Edgartown hotel, provided conflicting stories to investigating officers about how she happened to drive her 2012 Ford Fusion over a stone barrier at the end of North Road and the sequence of events before and after her accident.

Police cited Ms. Tranchell for negligent operation of a motor vehicle and leaving the scene of property damage.

One resident of the shacks that line Menemsha Harbor said he heard a slight bang early Sunday morning but thought nothing of it. It was not until the captain of the bike ferry arrived in the morning to begin transporting riders across the channel that the vehicle was discovered submerged and hung up beneath the bike ferry dock. But for that snag the car may well have drifted out into the busy channel.

Members of the  West Tisbury Dive Team arrived to confirm that no occupants were in the vehicle. Divers later helped with the removal of the car.

The area by the Galley restaurant and the bike ferry was closed to vehicles while police called on John Keene Excavation to bring in a front end loader to hoist the car from the channel.

Members of the Chilmark Fire Department with assistance from the Chilmark Harbor Department deployed oil absorption booms.

The Aquinnah Police Department, the Massachusetts State Police and the United States Coast Guard also responded and assisted.    

Not the first time

This is the second time emergency responders have been called to the same area for a report of a vehicle in the water.

On July 5, disaster was narrowly averted when a 2001 VW Golf hatchback parked on the side of North Road opposite the Home Port (with a dog inside) suddenly began rolling down the hill in the direction of the Menemsha Galley restaurant, an area normally congested with vehicles and pedestrians.

The driverless VW Golf struck a glancing blow to a young woman visitor who was walking with her mother and grandmother, narrowly missed a parked car, and then rolled over a stone revetment and into the water at the edge of the channel. The current can be quite strong, but fortunately it was low tide, and the car remained where it stopped, hood down in the water.

Chilmark Police Detective Sean Slavin and officer Andrew Downes were in the Chilmark Police station when they received the call.

Once they arrived, Det. Slavin tended to the young woman while Officer Downes removed Sancho, a chocolate Labrador retriever, from the car, no worse for the eventful ride.

Det. Slavin said the three women were walking three abreast. The young woman was knocked up on the hood of the car and rolled off. She was transported to Martha’s Vineyard Hospital, he said, bruised, but she did not appear to be seriously hurt.

“It was amazing only one person got clipped,” Det. Slavin said.

It was just before 11 am, and the customary crowds of people ordering ice cream and sandwiches had not begun to congregate in front of the popular Galley takeout windows.

Bradley Lamson, 51, a visitor from Whitefish, Mont., had borrowed the car from his host, Bucky Burrows of West Tisbury. Mr. Lamson told police he parked the car and then he and his wife walked over to the drive-on dock. They returned to the car to check on their dog, then walked over to the public restrooms and returned.

“When they came back, the car was gone,” Det. Slavin said.

Mr. Lamson walked down the hill. “He asked me what happened to his car, and I informed him it was in the ocean,” Det. Slavin said.

Mr. Lamson was relieved to hear that his dog was fine and the young woman had sustained only minor injuries. “He was concerned about that,” Mr. Slavin said.