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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Swimmer Drowns In Lake Washington

From Staff And Wire Reports

A young man swimming in Lake Washington drowned Friday despite a friend’s attempt to save him.

The man, in his early 20s, was swimming off the dock at Waverly Park when he became fatigued and cried out for help, a Kirkland police dispatcher said.

The man’s friend and nearby boaters tried to help, but the man disappeared under the water, she said.

A witness, James Keaton, told KIRO-TV, “and then he come back up and grab ahold of his friend, and he says, ‘I can’t go on, I can’t make it, I’m drowning.’

“All of a sudden you see his hand let go of his shoulder and the guy went under water,” Keaton said.

The friend dove underwater but couldn’t locate the drowning man.

The accident happened about 150 feet offshore.

King County police divers went down twice looking for the man, and pulled him out 45 minutes later, KIRO reported.

The man, a recent graduate at Northwest Bible College, was taken to Evergreen Hospital where he was pronounced dead.