Cops say husband put wife's car in creek

January 23, 2003|by GREGORY T. SIMMONS

A Hagerstown man who was unhappy with his wife decided last week to make waves, literally, with their 1989 Nissan Maxima, Hagerstown City Police said Wednesday.

The man dumped the car into Antietam Creek at Funkstown last Thursday or Friday, Hagerstown City Police Detective Christopher Kayser said Wednesday.

"It was a civil matter," Kayser said.

Apparently the couple had had a dispute, and the husband, whose name was not released, played a "dirty trick" on his spouse by taking the car and disposing of it, Kayser said.

Maryland State Police and a dive team went to Antietam Creek, as did officers from the Department of Natural Resources. When a diver swam to the car, he found all four windows had been rolled down and the car was empty.

At about noon Friday, a woman who lives in the first block of East Washington Street called police to report her Maxima had been stolen. She said the car had been taken between 7 p.m. Thursday and 11:50 a.m. Friday.

The stolen car's description matched that of the car state police had just pulled out of the creek. It turned out the woman was the man's wife.

Kayser said the man called his mother-in-law this week and admitted he dumped the car in the creek. Hagerstown police said they would not charge the man because the car was considered joint property.

A state police investigator could not be reached for comment on matter.

In addition to state police troopers and a diver, workers from the Hagerstown Waste Water Treatment Plant assisted in pulling the car out of the creek with heavy equipment.

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