RAMSEY — The parents of a Ramsey man missing after his Hummer plunged into the Mississippi River face an agonizing wait on the banks of the waterway as crews search for their son.

Witnesses said the vehicle, driven by 39-year-old Travis Benjamin, went through a residential yard, stopped at the shoreline, then appeared to purposely drive into the river where the vehicle became partially submerged. Another man who was in the Hummer was rescued.

Shirley and Clemons Bak dismissed the notion that the crash was a suicide.

“Travis was a very, very conscientious individual, almost to the point of being a pain sometimes,” said his stepfather. “What I saw in his apartment is he had this project going on, this project going on, this project going on. There’s no question in my mind that this was a complete and total accident for him.”

The Baks sat at a picnic shelter Sunday as Anoka County sheriff’s personnel trolled slowly up and down the river. Authorities say the current was too fast for divers to enter the water. Benjamin’s mother said her son was working for the Minnesota Department of Veterans Affairs and had earned a degree in health care administration from St. Cloud University.

Clemons Bak said he and his wife are holding onto hope that somehow Benjamin made it out of the river.