Swimmer Nearly Swept Away Strong Currents Pull Idaho Falls Man To Brink Of Going Over Dam
Kootenai County sheriff’s deputies pulled a man from the Spokane River on Monday after the powerful current threatened to suck him over the Post Falls dam.
Bystanders watching from the Spokane Street bridge cheered as 39-year-old Gregory Fortune stepped safely onto the riverbank about 6 p.m.
“I thought I was going to die,” the soaked Idaho Falls man said after the rescue, his large chest covered in scratches, his black jeans ripped to the knee.
“I feel lucky to be alive.”
Despite signs posted in the area prohibiting swimming while the spill gates are open, Fortune, who was in town visiting his girlfriend, dove into the water from a boat dock to cool off.
“I’m a pretty strong swimmer and usually don’t have to worry,” he said. “But it caught me.”
Fortune, who will be cited for violating the no-swimming law, was intoxicated when he took his plunge, according to sheriff’s Sgt. Dan Soumas.
Unaware he was swimming above a dam, Fortune was swept away by the current almost as soon as he hit the water.
He grabbed the catch cable and boom barricade just above the dam and tried to pull himself to shore, hand over hand.
But the current pulled him off the cable into a pile of logs and debris. He managed to hang onto a floating boom, where he held fast.
“If he’d lost his hold he’d be over the dam,” Soumas said.
A passerby briefly attempted a rescue but was turned back by the current.
Then the sheriff’s marine unit from Arrow Point arrived. On the second attempt, deputies managed to rescue Fortune.
“He had a double elbow lock and one leg wrapped around (the boom) and was hanging on for dear life,” said Sgt. Ward Crawford, the diver who grabbed Fortune.
Using the current to their advantage, navigators turned the boat so Fortune and Crawford were swept around to the back of the diving platform where other rescuers helped them onto the boat.
Washington Water Power Co. officials have been warning residents for weeks not to swim or play above the dam during high water levels. Even with a 285-horsepower jet boat, Soumas said venturing any closer to the dam tests marine deputies’ mettle.
“I don’t like going on the other side (of the barricade) because if we lose power then we’re all going for the big ride,” he said. “I’m just real glad it worked out this way.”
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