LAKE STATION | A police team pulled from Deep River on Wednesday a metal bar believed to have been used in a robbery of a pizza delivery driver whose head and hand were brutally smashed.

Diver Enrique Lopez received a round of applause after locating two pieces of the bar, which was tossed into the murky depths of Deep River.

"All right!" yelled Hank Woronka, coordinator of the Lake County Aquatics Underwater Recovery and Rescue Unit.

Lopez, who was joined in his search by a long row of fellow divers, raised one piece of the bar into the air and then the second.

"You guys are impressive," Woronka told the men.

Woronka's team, composed of divers from six local police departments, had been called to Deep River by Lake Station Police Chief Mike Stills to recover the possible weapon.

The pizza delivery driver, Samantha Wilson-Sayre, 21, of Portage, was airlifted to Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, Ill., where she underwent surgery on her head and hand, Stills said.

Wilson-Sayre, who was released from the hospital late Tuesday, had a metal plate inserted in her head and four metal pins placed in her hand.

Stills said he was thrilled the team was able to recover from Deep River both pieces of the metal bar or Club, a device used to lock vehicles' steering wheels.

"For a small police department like ours, it's nice to have resources like the diving team," Stills said.

Stills said Joseph Zeld, one of the suspects in the robbery/attack, had brought police to Deep River near the Old Train Bridge Trestle, and indicated where he had thrown the Club.

The team also recovered a pair of sneakers, which Zeld said he also had tossed into the river because they had pizza sauce on them, police said.

Both Stills and Lake Station Police Detective Kevin Garber said finding the evidence will aid them in their case.

"(Finding the Club) will collaborate what both suspects said," Garber said.

Garber said he expects robbery charges to be filed today in Lake County Superior Court against Zeld, 30, his girlfriend, Tammy Hawkins, 38, and her son, Keith Hawkins, 18, all of Lake Station. They were arrested Tuesday.

Stills said Keith Hawkins and Zeld told police it was Tammy Hawkins who devised a plan Saturday night to have her boyfriend call J&J's Pizza Shack on Central Avenue in order to get free pizzas.

The restaurant was asked to deliver three party size pizzas to an address in the 4300 block of Cosner Street, which was an unoccupied house for sale.

Stills said Zeld and Keith Hawkins were told to wait in hiding for the pizzas, valued at about $100. After arriving, Wilson-Sayre was instructed by Zeld to go to the back of the house to receive payment, Stills said.

Keith Hawkins told police it was then that Zeld struck Wilson-Sayre over the head with the Club, Stills said.

Zeld apparently was starting to hit her a second time when Wilson-Sayre blocked the second blow with her hand.

"The doctor told us that if she would have been struck twice in the head she would have died," Stills had said.

A manager at J&J's Pizza Shack said the restaurant is in the process of opening a benefit account for Wilson-Sayre through Centier Bank.

In addition, J&J's restaurants throughout the area as well as several Lake Station businesses are setting out collection canisters to help defray the medical costs for Wilson-Sayre, who had been employed at the pizzeria for the past 18 months.