RedactedNarrative: I received a call while patrolling on Atwood Lake there had been a subject that had fallen in the water from a boat and was a possible drowning victim at the Atwood Yacht Club.  I went to the Yacht Club and upon arrival there were already emergency service personnel at the launch ramp. A male subject advised the victim had already been taken by the squad to Union Hospital, another female subject stated someone in a tan boat had dropped the subject off and headed toward the east marina. I headed toward the east marina to see if I could locate the boat.  I met with several marina employees upon my arrival at the marina and they each stated most of the boats on the docks had been at the marina for some time already.  While at the marina Ranger boarded my patrol vessel and I observed a tan boat putting on a dock at Atwood Valley, after leaving the marina I made my way to the boat dock at Atwood Valley.
  
  Once at Atwood Valley docks I spoke with a male subject on the dock to see if he knew who just came onto the dock in the tan pontoon boat, he stated he did not.  I had Ranger Specialist run the hull number through the Watercraft Information System and the vessel came back to our victim. Ranger1 stood by at the boat to ensure it did not leave the area and nobody boarded the vessel. It was determined while we were at Atwood Valley the victim's family had raced back to the dock so they could make their way to Union Hospital.  It was at this time we were informed the victim had passed at the hospital. Ranger1 and I rigged the boat to tow for impound. Once the vessel was rigged for towing Ranger1 dropped me off at the marina east so I could make my way to the hospital to meet with the witnesses aboard the vessel, Ranger2, and Assistant Park Manager.
  
  I arrived at the hospital and Ranger2 was in the process of conducting interviews of both adult person aboard the vessel. Officer2 advised me of the following information: Occupant 1, stated the victims grandson, saw a line in the water trailing the boat. Upon hearing this the victim stopped the boat and shut off the engine to try to retrieve the line.  The occupant stated that they tried to grab the line from inside the vessel, but was not successful in retrieving the line. The occupant stated the victim then decided to go outside the rail to grab the line to pull it back aboard the vessel.  The occupant stated she told him to be careful as he proceeded out the port side stern gate. The occupant stated he was just barely outside the gate when the victim, slipped or possibly tripped over the ladder. 
  
  The occupant stated the victim fell of the vessel backward or head first; she also stated the victim did not hit anything as he fell of the boat. The occupant stated after he fell off it seemed as though he was down below the water surface for a long time and when he finally came back up he was thirty feet away. The occupant woken up the victim's son, then she screamed and informed him of what had happened, they tried unsuccessfully to rescue the victim by reaching for him with an aluminum pole. The son jumped in the water to help his father bringing him a life jacket. The son was not able to swim with his father back to the boat as the wind was blowing the vessel away from them.  
  
  The son stated he left his father to swim back to the boat and brought the boat to where his father was in the water.  The occupant stated the victims head was now slumped over and partially in the water, when they got back to him, the son got back in the lake and he and one occupant pulled the victim back aboard the vessel where they were not able to locate a pulse and the victim was unresponsive.  The occupant stated the son performed CPR and she drove the boat to the launch ramp areas at Atwood Yacht Club where EMS services took over care.  The victim was pronounced dead at Union Hospital, Dover, OH; I am awaiting a autopsy report from the Tuscarawas County Coroners officer.  A written and video statement/interview was obtained from occupant #1, the son agreed to give a video statement/interview.  There were photographs taken of the vessel and contents aboard.       On Friday, January 26, 2018 I, MWCD Ranger Specialist, received a report from Tuscarawas County Coroner Dr. on the death the operator at Atwood Lake on September 3, 2017.  The coroner has ruled the death as accidental in nature and the cause of death is listed as drowning.  The operator had a small amount of ethanol in blood,. 032 which is consistent with what the witnesses stated and what I observed aboard the vessel.  The coroner did not report the amount of alcohol as having any contributing factors in the drowning of the operator. This MWCD case in now closed, nothing further.
  