LATHROP — Authorities discovered a stolen truck allegedly dumped in a canal two miles north of Banta after they responded for a report of a vehicle submerged in the murky water Sunday, Aug. 26.

No one was found inside the truck, which authorities found had been reported stolen after towing it from the canal.

A San Joaquin County Sheriff sergeant at the scene said kids traveling on Paradise Road saw the top part of a rack attached to the truck sticking out of the water near Twin Bridges at Paradise Cut, about 15 feet from the edge of the bank.

Tire tracks led from the levee bank into the water.

The kids told a security guard who patrols this rural section of what is incorporated into the city of Lathrop, the sergeant said. The guard called authorities just after 7 p.m. to report the vehicle in the water, according to the sergeant.

Deputies, the Tracy Fire Department and Lathrop-Manteca’s water rescue team arrived, and a diver was sent into the canal before the truck was pulled out.

The sergeant on scene said the diver — who submerged just after sunset — could not see anything in the brackish water, and could not feel anyone in the driver’s compartment.