Search called off for driver of truck that plummeted from Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel

VIRGINIA BEACH — Authorities called off the search for the driver of a truck that went off the side of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel on Tuesday morning.

A bridge-tunnel spokesman said the driver, Erik Mezick, 47, of Fruitland, Maryland, was not found.

Around 8:20 a.m. Tuesday, Mezick’s box truck went overboard on the east side of the bridge’s northbound lanes. The truck belongs to Cloverland Greenspring Dairy, a company based in Baltimore.

Since Tuesday, the Coast Guard, Virginia Beach Fire Department, EMS, police, and Virginia Port Authority coordinated efforts to find Mezick’s body after witnesses said they saw him exit the truck and drift west.

Crofton Diving in Portsmouth recovered the vehicle from the water around noon Wednesday.

The Virginia Port Authority concluded its search for Mezick at 2 p.m. Wednesday, according to Bill Burket of the authority’s Maritime Incident Response Team.

In an attempt to piece together the cause of the crash, CBBT police officers will look for any mechanical malfunctions or information from the truck’s black box.