Dropped Handheld Vacuum Led to Fatal Virginia Pond Crash

Suffolk, Va., police say a dropped hand-held vacuum caused a fatal accident in which a car crashed into a pond.

Police say the front-seat passenger, 23-year-old Latasha Dubois of Suffolk, reached over to retrieve the vacuum after it fell to the driver’s side floorboard. She grabbed the steering wheel when she sat back up. The car ran off the road and went into a retention pond.

Dubois’s husband and the couple’s two children were injured. The accident occurred Feb. 11.

Media outlets report that police released the accident’s cause on Tuesday.

City spokeswoman Diana Klink says another fatal wreck involving a different pond on Feb. 12 was caused by the driver falling asleep. The victim in that accident was 52-year-old Daniel Post of Franklin.