Jennifer Michelle Patton Jenny Patton Jennifer Michelle Patton, the family’s “Spice Child”, passed away on Tuesday, January 5, 2010. She took her lunch break from work to go visit animals at a duck pond, which she frequently enjoyed doing, and lost control of her vehicle, perhaps trying to avoid hitting a duck! Unfortunately, her car careened over the curb, down a steep embankment and ended in a deep architectural pond. God works in mysterious ways. We should not and will not question. Jenny was born February 23, 1970 in a Navy hospital in Kittery, Maine (the only Yankee in her whole family) when her dad was stationed there. She attended all her school years in the Carrollton/Farmers Branch I.S.D. and graduated with honors from R.L. Turner High School in 1988. She became a certified court reporter after graduating from the Court Reporting Institute of Dallas in 1993. She worked for a year in this career, found it not to her liking, and joined the HDR Architectural and Engineering Firm’s Dallas team. She so enjoyed her coworkers/friends and the work environment that she stayed there until her tragic and untimely death. Jenny was the U.S.G.F gymnastics Texas State Champion in 1982 (Class 4, age 12-14). She was very involved with the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) and volunteered extensively for this organization. She was nominated this year for two Pathfinder Awards, which are internal awards given at HDR, Inc. The award ceremony is one that Jenny previously M.C’d, and so it was especially meaningful to her to learn of her nomination. Survivors include her father Robert (Rusty) Patton and wife Terri of Sanger, Texas, sister and husband Lisa and Ken Bell of Dallas, and their daughters Jayelyn and Camryn Bell, brother Casey Patton of Austin, beloved partner Lisa McCain of Haltom City, a step-grandfather Richard Parsons of Denton, several aunts and uncles, and many cousins. Jenny was preceded in death by her loving mother Jaye Marilyn (Freeman) Patton, her paternal grandparents Beatrice and Charles Patton, and maternal grandparents Joe and “Googie” Freeman. Jenny wrote the story for our popular saying of “Live-Laugh-Love”. She was a wonderful, caring daughter, friend, sister and partner. Her request in lieu of flowers would be a donation to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals or to the charity of your choice. A visitation will be held at Rhoton Funeral Home, located at Crosby and I-35E in Carrollton, on Saturday, January 9, 2010 from 10 a.m. until 12 noon followed by the memorial service at 12 noon.

The Denton Record Chronicle - January 9, 2010

Far North Dallas pond crash in which woman drowned a mystery

12:00 AM CST on Thursday, January 7, 2010
By JASON TRAHAN / The Dallas Morning News
[email protected]

Traffic investigators remained puzzled Wednesday over what caused 39-year-old Jennifer Michelle Patton to veer off the road in a Far North Dallas neighborhood and drown after her car plunged into a frigid pond, trapping her inside.

 

ALAN KOENIGSBERG/Special Contributor Dallas Fire-Rescue personnel pull Jennifer Michelle Patton's car from a pond in Far North Dallas. The first firefighters on the scene Tuesday entered the cold water without waiting for diving suits but were unable to save her.

Theories abound, however, ranging from possible vehicle malfunction, to her swerving to avoid ducks that are known to cross Fallkirk Drive and Campbell Road at Twin Lakes Park.

"We're saying, 'Could that have been a possibility?' " said Dallas police Sgt. Fred Katani, about the suggestion that she was trying to avoid ducks.

"We have no way of knowing at this time what it was," he said. "We still have rocks to turn over."

Patton was a marketing coordinator for HDR Inc., an architectural firm on Preston Road about two miles to the west off Campbell Road, family members said. They said she often ate lunch at the pond to watch the ducks.

"Work is crazy, and I'm headed to the duck pond," she told a friend around lunchtime Tuesday, according to Ken Bell, who is married to Patton's sister.

Investigators believe that Patton was driving north on Fallkirk Drive near Campbell when she inexplicably veered left and drove into the water.

"The family's in shock," Bell said.

"It seems like one of those freak occurrences that you never think is going to happen to you."


Rescue attempt

Firefighters were alerted just after 1 p.m. The first rescuers on scene decided not to wait for the water rescue team, which would have diving suits to protect them from the cold, so they got a boat and went out to the fully submerged SUV.

Two firefighters plunged into the 50-degree water and broke through the sunroof, but Patton was already unconscious by that time, authorities said.

She was pronounced dead at Richardson Hospital. The Dallas County medical examiner's office on Wednesday ruled her death an accidental drowning.

No witnesses have come forward to say they saw the vehicle immediately before entering the water, and only one person has told police they saw it before it disappeared under the surface, police said.

"So there's a possibility that if that witness hadn't seen the car sinking, she'd have just disappeared and no one would have known," Sgt. Katani said.


SPCA memorials

Patton's relatives said Wednesday that she often took in rescue animals, and they have asked that memorials be made in her name to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

"She was just full of life," said her aunt, Cindy Erdman.

Fifteen years ago, a similar incident at the same pond had a happier ending.

The Rev. John Kershaw, who at the time was a 65-year-old Richardson pastor, was driving near the same park on Feb. 20, 1995, when he apparently fainted and his car plunged into the water.

Logan Johnson, a 17-year-old pizza deliveryman, was driving on Campbell Road and saw the vehicle go into the water, according to newspaper accounts. He dived in, dragged the elderly man through an unlocked back door and swam him to safety.

 

Woman Dies After Car Submerges in Dallas Pond

Accidental drowning ruled in death of woman who drove SUV into Far North Dallas pond
Update: Woman Dies After Crashing SUV Into Dallas Pond
By Steve Pickett at KTVT/KTXA in Dallas

A woman died after a tragic car accident turned into a frigid water rescue attempt. Members of a Dallas Fire Rescue team and everyday citizens braved frigid conditions to pull Jennifer Patton from the waters of Twin Lakes Park. The park pond is located at the intersection of Fallkirk Drive and Campbell Road in far North Dallas.

Patton somehow drove her car into the freezing water. Witnesses say they saw the car plunge into the pond.

The 39-year-old woman was submerged in her black Ford SUV for several minutes. At least two passersby tried to get to the car, but the water was freezing. “We weren’t sure if anyone was in there or not,” explained witness Brenda Gonzalez. “This young fellow tried to go in but he just barely got up to his waist and he couldn’t handle the cold, so he came out.”

Officials with Dallas Fire Rescue estimate the temperature of the water was in the 50’s.

Dallas firefighter John Nimmo knows what it’s like to run into a burning building. Now he knows how it feels to jump into frigid water. “It took my breath away for a moment,” Nimmo said of his experience at Twin Lakes Park.

“I had a device designed to break a window, but it was so cold under water that my first two attempts were unsuccessful,” explained Nimmo. “So I came back up, got an ax and went back down and broke the window with the ax.” Nimmo dove in without a wet suit.

Despite being fully prepared, the water soon took its toll and the initial signs of hypothermia set in. “My lungs were burning and my muscles were beginning to shake. I broke the window and I stood back up and my legs were shaking and my arms were shaking,” said Nimmo.

Fortunately, Nimmo had help from above – literally. Two firefighters, on a ladder, hovered over the submerged car with a 16-foot pole. “We were trying to figure out if we could feel glass. We knew if we could feel glass, then we could break it out,” explained Darryl Hayes with Dallas Fire Rescue. The firefighters on the ladder finally smashed through the vehicles sunroof.

Rescuers pulled Patton from the car, but the dangerously cold water had slowed the firefighters down and too much time had passed. “It seems like time goes so fast,” Dallas Fire Rescuer Frank Silvas said in reflection. “We want so desperately to be successful, but there’s just times when things are out of our control.”

After getting her out of the water rescuers immediately began CPR. “They got her to the shore and transported her to Richardson Hospital,” said Jason Evans with Dallas-Fire Rescue. Patton was pronounced dead at the hospital.

Former neighbors of Patton told CBS 11 News that the woman had recently sold her Carrollton home and moved in with another woman in Fort Worth.

Dallas Police and Dallas Fire Rescue are investigating the crash. There was no sign of brake or skid marks near the pond, leaving investigators to figure out what happened to Patton, or her car, that caused the accident.
__________
By Jason Trahan in The Dallas Morning News
The Dallas County medical examiner’s office has ruled that a 39-year-old Haltom City woman whose vehicle plunged into a frigid pond in North Dallas Tuesday afternoon died from accidental drowning. Dallas police traffic investigators still aren’t sure what caused Jennifer Michelle Patton’s Ford crossover SUV to end up in the water near the intersection of Fallkirk Drive and Campbell Road in Far North Dallas.

The incident occurred just after 1 p.m., when Dallas Fire Rescue was called about a vehicle that had gone into the water with someone inside. Instead of waiting for the dive team, first-arriving firefighters were able to get to the victim quickly using a small rescue boat and life jackets.

They managed to break open the vehicle’s sunroof and pull the unresponsive woman out. They began CPR, but Patton was pronounced dead at Richardson Hospital.
Editor’s Note: The Associated Press reports that one firefighter was treated for symptoms of hypothermia