LAUREL, MD – On May 19, at approximately 4:58 a.m., Anne Arundel County Police Department Western District officers responded to the area of Brock Bridge Road and Dorsey Run—a body of water that feeds into the Patuxent River—in reference to assisting a motorist who had driven a vehicle into the water.
There had been a significant amount of rainfall due to heavy rain and thunder storms that occurred throughout the evening and early morning that caused the water level of the Dorsey Run to rise to flood levels. The water from the Dorsey Run flooded Brock Bridge Road to the point of making it impassable and dangerous.
Upon arrival, officers spoke with a witness who reported seeing a small, white pickup truck attempt to drive through the flooded section of Brock Bridge Road. He reported seeing the truck suddenly float up and spin around in the current with the headlights now facing him before being swept off of the left shoulder of the roadway and disappearing beneath the water.
According to the Anne Arundel County Fire Department, firefighters and paramedics, including Special Operations divers and swift water swimmers from Anne Arundel and Howard counties responded to the scene. Search operations were conducted for several hours from the point the vehicle was last seen and down river. The point last seen was approximately 1,200 feet west of the bridge over the Little Patuxent River. The search failed to locate the vehicle. Units continued to search as the waters receded.
On May 19, at approximately 10:32 p.m., patrol units responded to a business on Brock Bridge Road in Laurel in an effort to locate an individual reported missing by relatives to the Charles County Sheriff’s Office.
The missing person, Rene Dimanche Jr., 47 of Waldorf, was last seen by family members at his residence early that morning at 3 a.m. The sheriff’s office had advised that Mr. Dimanche operates a white Toyota Tacoma pickup truck with Missouri plates. While attempting to locate Mr. Dimanche an Anne Arundel County Police Officer discovered a small, white pickup truck in the middle of the water of Dorsey Run, visible from the Brock Bridge Road Bridge which crosses the Dorsey Run. Further investigation confirmed that the vehicle did in fact come back as a 1999 Toyota Tacoma registered to Mr. Dimanche Jr.
The vehicle was left in the water for a reference point and the fire department resumed its search with assistance of the Anne Arundel County Police Department throughout the morning hours of Wednesday, May 20. At approximately, 12:58 p.m.
Fire Personnel discovered the body of an adult male victim downstream several hundred yards from Brockbridge Road. The body was confirmed to be that of Mr. Dimanche. The body will be transported to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Baltimore for an autopsy to be performed to determine the final cause and manner of death.
Preliminary investigation indicates this appears to be an accidental drowning.