On May 15, 2023, at approximately 19:38 CST, I was contacted by KSP Columbia Post advising me of a potential drowning at Wisdom Dock on Dale Hollow Lake in Clinton County. I immediately put my uniform back on since I was at home and responded to the dock. Arriving there, EMS was pulling out and I was advised by Clinton County Deputy that the victim was being transported to the hospital. Also, enroute was his wife.

Deputy advised the boat the victim had been in was secured in a slip at the dock. I walk down to the slip with him to make sure I located the correct vessel. At first, we located the vessel that the victim was brought back to the dock in after he had been pulled from the water. He was able to show us the correct boat that was involved in the incident. I asked him if he was a witness and he advised he wasn’t. He stated he just witnessed them bring the victim into the dock after he was recovered from the water. 

I examined the boat within the slip which had Kentucky registration. I collected the HIN and motor serial number then took photographs of the vessel. When examining the boat, nothing looked suspicious in my opinion. After collecting what I needed from the boat, I walked around the dock area looking for witnesses that could provide me with a statement on the events that occurred.

After talking to several people, none of them were witnesses to what had happened to the victim. All of them had seen the same thing and that was when the victim was brought back to the dock. I asked if they could provide me names on the individuals that went out to help to bring the victim in, but no one could provide me with names.

I then responded to the Medical Center at Albany which is the hospital the victim was taken to. There I contacted Victim’s wife and learned what had happened. She advised she was operating the boat sitting in the back. They were idling up to the dock in the slip, so she shut the main motor off and was using the trolling motor to idle in. She had advised her husband was up at the front of the boat up on the platform and that she had told him not to step over on the dock until the boat was secured. She stated Victim proceeded to step up on the dock and when he did, the boat pushed away from him causing him to enter the water at the front of the boat.

She advised Victim had grabbed the front of the boat and had one foot up as well which caused him to panic, she thought. Victim’s wife stated she threw her husband a Type 4 PFD which he grabbed, and he began swimming to the shore but ran out of gas and couldn’t make it. 

She advised when she seen him struggling, she idled over to him with the trolling motor. When he went under the water, she jumped in to save him and left the trolling motor on which caused the boat to go in circles out in the harbor. She advised she was somehow able to keep his head above the surface but needed assistance. 

A couple of guys had come out on a boat to assist removing them from the water. Victim was unresponsive, so Victim’s wife performed CPR the best she could on that boat and continued until EMS arrived. Victim’s wife stated neither her nor her husband had been wearing PFD’s.

While at the hospital, the victim still had a pulse, but was unresponsive, so I waited there and monitored his status with hospital personnel. After some time had passed, the hospital personnel advised they had pronounced the victim deceased and informed me to contact the coroner.

When Clinton County Coroner arrived, I briefly spoke to update him on the case. He advised with all potential drowning victims he normally requests an autopsy. I then introduced him to Victim’s wife and let them speak. When the coroner was documenting his evidence via photographs is when I collected mine as well of the victim. On July 18, 2023, I received an email from Clinton County Coroner with the results from Victim’s autopsy report and draft of his death certificate. The State Medical Examiner’s opinion states, based on the information provided to them and the postmortem examination findings, the cause of death in this 64-year-old man is due to drowning in the setting of atherosclerotic and hypertensive cardiovascular disease. The draft of death certificate mirrors the state medical examiner’s office opinion.
Dale Hollow Lake
ALBANY                        