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SUV Backs Into Lake Michigan, Divers Pull Man Out

(CBS) -- A man was pulled from Lake Michigan Friday afternoon when the SUV he was in backed into Lake Michigan near the Loop.

The incident was reported around 3 p.m. Friday at Lake Shore Drive and Balbo drives.

Witnesses say it appears to be a freak accident.

Motorist Brendan Taylor says the driver was standing outside the SUV in the southbound lanes of Lake Shore Drive, when the vehicle started going in reverse across traffic. The driver was unable to bring the vehicle under control, Taylor says, and it ended up backing through a fence and into the water.

"Unbelievably, it didn't hit any people," Taylor tells CBS 2's Mike Puccinelli.

It took about 20 minutes for divers to pull the SUV's occupant from the water. He was taken in critical condition to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, the Chicago Fire Department said.

The SUV rescue effort was different from another incident, earlier Friday, in which a Chicago Park District vehicle slipped into the lake near Oak Street Beach.

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