A man went to the Mississippi River Monday to watch crews search for his son, who he said fell from the Interstate 74 bridge while running from police.

Leroy Haessler’s son, Matthew Haessler, is a 1996 graduate of Pleasant Valley High School. He struggled with drug addiction since the death of his mother, Kay Haessler, from injuries sustained in a car accident in 2003, Leroy Haessler said.

“We tried for years to get help,” Leroy Haessler said. “No one seemed to care.”

He said he made one more attempt to reach out to his son last week.

He reported a car missing from the automobile sales and repair shop he owns in Pleasant Valley. He knew his son stole the car, he said Monday.

When police spotted the car Saturday night in Davenport, the driver fled.

Bettendorf police have identified Matthew Haessler, 32, as the driver.

Bettendorf officers pursued Haessler across the I-74 bridge into Illinois. He got back onto the interstate in Moline and was heading back to Iowa when police used stop sticks to stop the vehicle on the bridge.

 

 

 

A passenger, David Kent Minor, 36, of Davenport, was taken into custody on the bridge on a warrant request.

Haessler began to climb down the bridge’s center span to flee officers, police said.

Bettendorf Police Chief Phil Redington said Haessler climbed down as far as he could go and then jumped into the river.

Leroy Haessler thinks his son slipped and fell into the river.

“He did not jump,” he said.

The father was just trying to help his son when he reported the car missing, he said.

“He lost his mom in a car accident,” Leroy Haessler said. “We’ve seen a major change in his personality. He couldn’t get it under control. He was a danger to himself.”

He said he was sure his son was under the influence of drugs Saturday night.

Rescue crews have searched the water since late Saturday.

Davenport fire crews were in the water near the Interstate 280 bridge in Davenport Monday afternoon after a truck driver reporting seeing what he thought might be a body in the Mississippi River.

 

 

 

Bettendorf police and fire departments searched the river Monday morning for approximately two hours from Leach Park to the Water Treatment Plant, officials said.

Nothing has been found.

Josh Nelson is a longtime friend of Matthew Haessler, and with a group of friends, has been combing the shores of the Mississippi looking for his body.

“We’re grasping at straws trying to find him,” Nelson said.

The two attended Pleasant Valley High School together and played in garage bands growing up, Nelson said.

Haessler was a drummer in blues bands in the Quad-Cities, his father and Nelson said.

He joined the Whatever Blues Band in June 2000 and played the Mississippi Valley Blues Festival in 2002, according to the band’s website and the Mississippi Valley Blues Society’s website.

“He followed his dream to play blues,” Nelson said.