A tan Ford Taurus X SUV driven by a 58-year-old woman jumped a curb on Lake Morton Drive Monday morning, toppled a decorative light pole, uprooted a small tree and ended up in Lake Morton.

Based on tire marks, it appears the vehicle was traveling east when it left the roadway across from Pennsylvania Avenue. It continued east across the grass for about 100 yards before ending up in shallow water just feet from the shore of Lake Morton.

Lakeland police responded after being notified of the accident at 8:45 a.m.

A Lakeland Police Department spokeswoman said the cause of the accident is unknown. The driver, who was identified as Pamela Peacock, was taken to Lakeland Regional Health Medical Center with non-life-threatening injuries, police said. Peacock was the sole occupant of the vehicle, police said.

The vehicle’s right rear window had been smashed; it is not known whether the window had been smashed to remove the driver, whether it happened while the car was in motion or for some other reason.

Gallery: Click on any image to see larger versions of all the photos.

A crane lifted the vehicle out of Lake Morton around 12:40 p.m. | Trinity Laurino, LkldNow

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Barry Friedman founded Lkldnow.com in 2015 as the culmination of a career in print and digital journalism. Since 1982, he has used the tools of reporting, editing and content curation to help people in Lakeland understand their community better.

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