A 48-year-old Ironwood, Mich., woman was charged with operating while intoxicated after allegedly driving her car off a dead-end road and onto a frozen portion of Lake Superior early Wednesday.
Susan Malueg was charged in Ashland County Circuit Court and later released from the Ashland County Jail after posting bond, Sheriff Mick Brennan told the News Tribune.
Authorities said Malueg drove off the end of Johnson Road and onto Lake Superior, where she was rescued by the Ashland Fire Department. Johnson Road is a road that extends north of U.S. Highway 2 toward the lake, about three miles east of Ashland.
According to an Ashland Fire Department news release, Malueg took several hours before phoning for emergency help. She was the lone occupant in the vehicle.
The fire department arrived just before 5 a.m., discovering that the vehicle had gone over an embankment - a 15-foot drop onto an ice-covered portion of the lake. Temperatures in the Ashland area were hovering near zero at the time, with gusty west winds.
ADVERTISEMENT
Malueg was initially transported to Memorial Medical Center in Ashland. The Ashland Police Department and Ashland County Sheriff's Office assisted at the scene.
