WAUSAU, Wis. (WSAU) -- Many law enforcement agencies have specially trained units that deal with highly unusual situations. One of those units was put to work during Tuesday’s fatal crash of an SUV into the Eau Claire River in Schofield. The Marathon County Sheriff's Department Dive Team assisted the Everest Metro Police Department in recovering a submerged vehicle in the Eau Claire River.
Marathon County Sheriff Scott Parks says their Dive Team is trained to do much more than simply go underwater and locate vehicles. He says the water is not very clear, and divers use sonar and global positioning systems to map and locate underwater. “In Marathon County, it’s dark stained water, so it’s pretty much zero visibility on the bottom, and our people are trained to get down there and do grid searches until they find the particular item they are looking for, and then begin the task of bringing that item to the surface.”
Parks says special purpose units like dive teams, bomb squads and SWAT teams train a lot, but also learn from real incidents like this one. “Every actual incident is probably the best training, because you’re putting everything into play, so in this case, we do a lot of photography and there is some video that is shot, but for the most part, the focus is on the recovery of the item of evidence, or the vehicle, or the person.”