RedactedNarrative: On November 21, 2020, at 12:26PM the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office received a 911 call of a capsized vessel in Lake Pontchatrain.  They contacted LDWF and advising that one subject from the vessel was on the lake shore, but there was still one occupant in the water.  
  
  Two subjects, Operator and Occupant, were recreationally trawling for shrimp in the lake.  According to Operator, they picked up several large rocks in the trawl and were unable to lift the trawl over the side of the boat.  While trying to do this, water began splashing over the transom of the vessel (21’ ProLine with remote steering) causing the bilge pump to begin pumping.  
  
  Unable to get trawl in, the two men were getting exhausted by the weight of the trawl and released it dropping it down to the bottom.  The weight of the rocks in the trawl on the bottom was now acting like an anchor out of the stern of the vessel causing the water from the waves to continue to come over the transom.  
  
  Noticing that the bilge was not keeping up with the water coming in, Operator decided to cut the trawl off of the stern of the vessel.  After doing so, he turned to engage the motor to start moving and run the water out of the back.  At this time, he discovered the motor was no longer running.  He attempted to start the motor and could not get it started.  
  
  At this time he jumped in the water to see if any part of the trawl had wrapped on the prop causing the engine to kill and keeping the motor from restarting.  There was nothing on the prop and he climbed back into the vessel.  Moments later that vessel had flooded from water coming over the stern and capsized.   
  
  While in the water after the vessel capsized, Operator observed Occupant clinching to a PFD and tried to get him to grab a hold of the side of an ice chest so that he could pull him to the capsized vessel to hold.  
  
  According to Operator, Occupant stated that he could not move or let go of the PFD.  Operator then swam to Occupant and began to try to pull and push him toward the vessel, but was unable to do so.  During this struggle, Operator stated that Occupant’s eyes rolled back in his head, he became unresponsive, and released the grip on the PFD.  Operator stated that he screamed at Occupant and shook him, but could not get him back.  Struggling to hold onto him, Operator was forced to let go of Occupant.  Operator then swam to the south shoreline of the lake where he made contact with a passerby on the exercise path and called 911. 
  
   US. Coast Guard was the first on scene and recovered the body of Occupant suspended just below the surface of the water.  They brought him into Williams Blvd. public boat launch and were met by East Jefferson EMS where he was pronounced dead.  East Jefferson Coroner’s office was then contacted and the body was released to them. PFD’s were not used correctly.  The factors believed to have contributed to the flooding/capsizing were the weight of the occupants and the trawl at the stearn of the vessel allowing water to splash in over the transom, the motor not starting, and the weather.
  