A driver from New Jersey ended up splashing down in the Hackensack River on Tuesday morning after mistakenly hitting the gas pedal instead of the brake as they left a car wash.
Surveillance video captured the moment the SUV pulled out of the wash in Hackensack before it suddenly accelerated, sending the vehicle and its occupants straight into the muddy water.
Although there is a fence around the perimeter of the wash, there is no barrier railing at the point where the car zoomed over the edge into the flowing waters.
The incident happened just before midday.
Although the driver and her passenger were shaken up by the incident, they were both otherwise unharmed by the sudden splashdown.
Hackensack police and fire departments responded but the driver and her passenger had already managed to get out of the car by that point after a worker from the car wash ran over and helped to get them out.
The driver was taken to a hospital as a precaution.
The car was also able to be salvaged later in the afternoon as a crane was brought to hoist it out.
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