Car plunges into Long Lake

On a day that the Department of Natural Resources put out a warning about the dangers of thin ice, a Spring Lake Park driver didn't get the message.

By Tim Harlow, Star Tribune

Last update: December 12, 2007 - 12:55 PM

On a day that the Department of Natural Resources put out a warning about the dangers of thin ice, a Spring Lake Park driver didn't get the message.

Paul Jason Ryan, 33, was about 150 yards from shore Tuesday afternoon when his 1994 Pontiac broke through the ice on Long Lake in New Brighton. He managed to escape, but the car sank to the bottom of the lake, said George Altendorfer, undersheriff with the Ramsey County patrol division.

Besides losing his car, Ryan was charged with gross-misdemeanor drunken driving, Altendorfer said.

Recent Local + Metro stories

Eden Prairie man, 47, died as result of injuries in head-on crash Friday - December 12, 2007

Eden Prairie man, 47, died as result of injuries in head-on crash Friday - An Eden Prairie man killed in a two-car crash Friday night died as a result of the accident, the Hennepin County medical examiner's office said Monday. More