WILTON— It was a cool dip for Lewis Sabin as he followed his half-ton truck into Wilson Lake on Thursday afternoon.

Sabin, 59, of Wilton and Kingston Bickford, 79, enjoyed a couple hours on the water fishing from Sabin’s boat, although the fish weren’t biting, they said at the scene. They returned to the boat launch and started to haul the boat on to his trailer, Sabin said.

He was just about to climb into the truck about 3 p.m. when it apparently went out of gear and rolled into the water. It sunk till it was totally submerged.

A crew working on the bridge brought  a small  tractor over and pulled the vehicle back to the parking lot, Wilton police Sgt. Richard Billian said.

Some items in the truck fell into the pond. Sabin retrieved several,  taking a dip in water he estimated to be 45 degrees. Other items floated along the shore. He promised to get them after changing clothes.

The truck received some damage and Sabin was making arrangements to have it and the boat hauled from the scene.

Billian contacted the Maine Warden Service and the Department of Environmental Protection. They wanted all items from the truck picked up from the lake. There didn’t appear to be any great amount of truck fluids in the lake.

abryant@sunjournal.com

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