Man drives car off pier in Baltimore

BALTIMORE, June 15 (UPI) -- Baltimore's Inner Harbor has paddleboats, water taxis and amphibious Duck vehicles -- and now 1986 Mercury Grand Marquis.

Howard Marshall, of Baltimore, inadvertently drove the car off a pier and the car quickly sank. Marshall was able to climb from a window and was pulled to safety by two restaurant workers from the ESPN Zone, the Baltimore Sun reported Tuesday.

"We saw him pull up and drop someone off," said Winston Gupton, one of the rescuers. "His car just kept drifting real slow."

Rodney Taylor, a line cook, reached out to help pull Marshall ashore -- but was accidentally pulled into the water himself.

"I was pulling on his shirt and then I fell in," said Taylor. "Being under that water and not seeing anything but bubbles is not fun."

Gupton said he faced a split-second decision on which man to help first. "I made sure the guy had his arm on the pylon, then I snatched Rodney."