Victim 1 was using a friends kayak on beech hill pond in otis maine; victim 1 has very litttle experience in a kayak; the kayak owners wife told victim 1 that he needed to have a life jacket while using the kayak; victim 1 responded that he did not need a life jacket because he was a strong swimmer; victim 1 then paddled further out into the lake; the witness had turned her attention to the wife of victim 1 who was in a separate kayak and was helping her exit the kayak; when the witness looked back to where victim 1 was she observed that he had capsized the kayak and was swimming back toward the dock; victim one had swam approximately 10 meters when he suddenly stopped swimming and disappeared under the surface of the water; the witness immediately paddled to victim 1 location and attempted to pull him from the bottom of the lake to shore, a distance of less than 10 meters; the witness was not strong enough to move victim 1 and yelled for help; the boat owner and a neighbor went out in a boat and located victim 1 on the bottom of the lake; victim 1 was in approximately 7-8 feet of water; the male neighbor dove into the lake and brought victim 1 to shore where life saving cpr was attempted to no avail; victim 1 was pronounced dead at the scene; autopsy on the next day revealed that the victim drowned and had cardio vascualr disease that may have contributed to the drowning. The kayak was recovered approximately 125 feet from the owners dock upside down where it had drifted to shore with the paddle. Chemical and toxicology tests are still pending due to a large amount of prescription drugs being taken by victim 1.
Otis                          