By Rita Farlow, Times Staff Writer
Monday, January 10, 2011
CLEARWATER — A man suffering a medical emergency survived after his truck crashed through a fence and into a retention pond Monday afternoon, Clearwater police said.
Thomas Pattinato, 27, was in his 2002 Dodge pick-up truck in a parking lot at the corner of Gulf-to-Bay Boulevard and Belcher Road when he crossed Belcher, hit the fence and drove into the pond around 1 p.m.
When rescuers arrived they found that a Progress Energy worker in the area had already helped Pattinato out of the truck and out of the water, police said.
Pattinato was taken to Morton Plant Hospital with injuries that did not appear to be life-threatening. Police did not disclose the nature of his condition.
No one else was injured and no other vehicles were involved.
In July 2006, an elderly couple drowned in the same pond after ...