An Orangeburg man drowned in a drainage ditch after trying to flee from police on Monday. Derrick Edwards, 29, fled after they spotted him in the drivers seat of a recently stolen 2001 Dodge Durango.

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The $7,000 used vehicle had been taken from an Orangeburg auto dealer and then driven to a house where someone reportedly tried to sell it for $300.

Around 1 p.m. someone alerted police to the presence of a man trying to sell the vehicle, and when police arrived they found Edwards. Edwards fled, ran through a wooded area, and then jumped into a drainage ditch behind a salvage yard.

The ditch is estimated to be 15- to 20-feet deep, and when three officers and two salvage yard employees jumped in to rescue Edwards they were unable to find him.