Police investigating St. Clair River incident that left Clinton Township driver dead

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Following a call from The Voyager restaurant in St. Clair on Saturday evening regarding a white Jeep driving into the river, St. Clair County Sheriff Office divers retrieved a man from the water. The 59-year-old man from Clinton Township, identified as Robert Ranusch Jr, was pronounced dead upon his arrival at the Ascension River District Hospital.

The initiating phone call came from the restaurant located at 525 South Riverside Avenue around 7:22 p.m., with the dive team getting the man out of the water by 8:05 p.m. Police say that surveillance footage shows the man driving the Jeep down Clinton Avenue before the vehicle entered the restaurant parking lot, sped up and broke through the area’s guardrail, before continuing into the river. The investigation is still ongoing, and an autopsy is pending.

Also responding to the scene were St. Clair Police and Fire, the county marine division and dive team, Tri-Hospital EMS and Marine City Fire.