Police have recovered a body from the waters off Gerristen Beach in Brooklyn after responding to a call of a car found plunged in the water, authorities say.
Police said divers pulled the body of 31-year-old James Miro from the water after responding to a call of a car sighting in the water near Gerritsen and Lois avenues Tuesday afternoon. Authorities don't believe anyone else was in the car, which was removed from the water later in the evening.
The homeowner where the car appeared to have gone through the yard and into Shell Bank Creek said he noticed a portion of the fence was missing when he arrived Monday to check on the construction of the home, which is undergoing renovation from Sandy damage.
The homeowner, Christopher Gardner, said a neighbor who lives two houses inland from the water showed him video of a car going at a high rate of speed down Gerritsen Avenue at about 5 a.m. Gardner's home is located at the very end of the avenue, just before the creek.
"I noticed the fence was damaged," he said. "When I saw the video and thought about it for a little bit, I said it's possible the car could still be there."
The car was in the water, and Gardner called 911.
No one initially knew the car was in the water because the guardrail was not damaged, Gardner said. It appears the car managed to hit an area where the guardrail ends and took out only a narrow portion of the construction fence.
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As for whether anyone heard the violent crash, neighbor Rick Biglin said, "Somebody was walking their dog and heard the bang, and looked for the car but didn't see it."
"Kids speed up and down the avenue all the time, so we assumed that was it," he said.
Gardner said in the 30 years he has lived in the home, people have crashed into either his yard or the guardrail separating the yard from the water about a dozen times. He said drivers speed down the street, not realizing it dead-ends into the creek.
Neighbors want more signs or speed bumps to prevent cars from going over the edge.
"It really should be some kind of rumble strip or something like that to alert people that an end is coming," said Gardner.
