Police said an 18-year-old passenger escaped after the vehicle left West Erie Avenue and went into the water near Beaver Park Marina in Lorain.
LORAIN, Ohio — Two women died after a car crashed into Lake Erie near Beaver Park Marina early Friday, and police said an 18-year-old male passenger escaped from the sinking vehicle and made it to a nearby home for help.
The crash brought a large emergency response to Lorain’s lakefront just after daybreak and shut down part of the area near West Erie Avenue and Oak Point Road. The case quickly shifted from an active water search to a fatal crash investigation after divers located the vehicle shortly after 8 a.m. and recovered both victims. Authorities have not released the women’s names, and investigators had not publicly explained what caused the car to leave the road.
Officers were called around 4:15 a.m. Friday to the 6100 block of West Erie Avenue after reports of a downed utility pole near Beaver Park Marina. As crews responded, dispatchers also received calls about an 18-year-old man who may have entered a nearby residence without permission. Officers located him and saw injuries that appeared consistent with a crash, according to police. The man told investigators he had been riding in the back seat of a vehicle driven by a female acquaintance, while another female acquaintance was in the front passenger seat. He said the car struck at least one utility pole, went off the road and entered the water. The passenger told police he escaped through a back seat window before the vehicle went under.
That account set off a search along the marina and shoreline as police, fire crews and other responders focused on the water near the mouth of the Black River and the Lake Erie edge at Beaver Park Marina. By sunrise, emergency vehicles lined the roadway and dive operations were underway. Police said the two women in the front of the vehicle had not been seen since the crash. The 18-year-old survivor, whose name has not been released, was taken to Mercy Health for treatment. Authorities did not provide an update Friday on the extent of his injuries. They also did not say how long the vehicle remained submerged before divers located it or whether weather, speed, road conditions or impairment may have played any role.
Shortly after 8 a.m., the Lorain Police Underwater Recovery Team found the vehicle in the water, ending hours of uncertainty at the scene. Police said one victim was discovered inside the vehicle. A short time later, rescuers found the second victim nearby. The recoveries confirmed the worst outcome in what began as an urgent search after the passenger’s account reached officers. Beaver Park Marina sits off West Erie Avenue along Lorain’s lakefront, an area where the road, marina access and nearby residential properties come together near the water. That setting appeared to shape the early response, as officers worked not only to reconstruct the crash but also to determine where the vehicle entered the lake and how far it had traveled after leaving the road.
By Friday afternoon, officials were treating the case as an active investigation. Police had not released the identities or ages of the two women, pending notification of relatives, and had not said whether either victim was from Lorain. Investigators also had not announced whether they had recovered surveillance video, phone records or other evidence that could help explain the minutes before impact. A downed pole near West Erie Avenue and Oak Point Road pointed to at least one violent strike before the car entered the water, but authorities did not publicly describe the vehicle’s speed or direction of travel. No charges were announced Friday, and police did not indicate that anyone else had been inside the car beyond the three people already identified through the survivor’s statement.
The scene drew public attention as residents passed clusters of emergency vehicles and saw divers working the water near the marina. The response included local police and fire personnel, and early reports from the scene described a broader emergency presence as crews searched the area around the vehicle’s suspected entry point. For several hours, the main questions were whether anyone remained trapped and whether rescuers could reach them in time. Once the vehicle was located, the focus turned to recovery and documentation. Investigators will likely rely on the survivor’s statement, physical damage at the roadside, the condition of the vehicle and findings from the coroner’s office to map out exactly how the crash unfolded.
As of Friday, the women’s identities had not been released and the cause of the crash remained under investigation. The next major step is expected to be identification of the victims and a fuller account from Lorain police about what happened before the car entered Lake Erie.
Author note: Last updated March 6, 2026.