Community Corner

Jeep in River Was Philly TV Personality's Car

How a sandwich led to a giant fishing expedition in Valley Forge

CBS3 TV and Philadelphia Radio Traffic guy Bob Kelly took to the airwaves on KYW-TV/CBS3 Thursday morning with a true insider's story about the jeep that had to be fished out of the Schuykill River in Valley Forge National Historical Park Wednesday afternoon.       

"Did you ever have one of those days where you wish you could go back to bed and start it all over again?" That's how Kelly, a veteran Philadelphia TV and radio traffic reporter and media personality began his personal story on Eyewitness News This Morning at 5:45 a.m. Thursday. "Yesterday, that was the kind of day I had."

Kelly told viewers and his co-anchors that he and his wife went to the park "just to spend a nice quiet afternoon and to put the canoe in the water." He described wanting to get the car a little closer to the river bank after stopping on the boat ramp. "So I just kind of got back in the car, I really didn't close the door, and just kind of worked the brake and just slid it down just a little bit," he said on air.  "We had gotten some sandwiches..and (his wife) said 'give me the sandwiches' so I take the sandwiches and I just get out of the car.  The car rolled down into the water, and that fast- I'm telling you, 15 seconds and that car was in the water," Kelly told anchors Ukee Washington and Natasha Brown. "And beccause of the current it had submerged and went down about 200 feet and then all we saw was the canoe, (which)was the top of that car."

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Kelly went on to thank the Valley Forge National Historical Park rangers, the Lower Providence Police Department and Abel's towing in Malvern.

Kelly says the towing crew told him that "they'd never seen anything like that, especially with the current."

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Kelly told the CBS3 anchor team that he told his wife that the next time they want some peace and quiet "we're just going to go for a walk."

No one was injured during the ordeal. Kelly posted the video on his CBS3 Facebook Fan Page.

You can also watch it by clicking on the video clip attached to this story.

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