Man found dead in car that crashed into west Fort Worth pond, fire department says

Firefighters in dive gear recovered a man’s body from a car that apparently crashed through a gate and into a pond early Saturday morning in west Fort Worth, a fire department spokesman said.

The man was identified by the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office as David Earl Montgomery Jr., 32, of Fort Worth.

A person saw the car submerged in the water, its taillights shining upward, and called 9-1-1 early Saturday morning, fire department spokesman Kyle Clay said. Firefighters responded to the pond, which is located near where Camp Bowie West Boulevard and Interstate 30 intersect, he said. It sits off of an access road called Horseshoe Trail West.

A couple of firefighters on the dive team first went into the body to recover the body, Clay said. The man was pronounced dead.

Following an initial investigation, firefighters believe Montgomery was driving east down the access road when he crashed through a fence of a residential property and wound up in the pond, Clay said. It’s unclear what factors contributed to him driving into the pond.

Clay believes the man died sometime early Saturday morning, though officials from the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office were on the scene working to confirm his time and cause of death.

“They’ll do an investigation and find out exactly what happened,” Clay said.

Officers from the Fort Worth Police Department were also on the scene Saturday morning, he said. They were preparing to use a wrecker with a crane to pull the car out of the water.

This story was originally published June 13, 2020 at 9:39 AM.