Two Men Die After Canoe Capsizes Third Man Survives Plunge Into Frigid Spokane River Reservoir

The three men envisioned a leisurely canoe trip to a Native American historical site on the Spokane River.

The winter sun was shining, and the men needed a respite from their intense drug and alcohol recovery program.

The trip turned deadly Wednesday afternoon when the 18-foot Coleman canoe capsized in the reservoir above Little Falls Dam, dunking the three in brutally cold water.

One man, Bradley J. Ewing, died on the riverbank.

Divers continued to search the murky reservoir Thursday for the body of the second man.

The third canoeist, David T. Doud, called his survival a miracle. He paddled 75 yards to shore with the aid of a flotation cushion, then scrambled two miles to call for help.

“The Lord picked me out of the three to rescue me,” said Doud, 48. “The question is: Why me? He must have something in store for me.”

The Spokane County sheriff’s dive team spent Thursday searching the 40-foot-deep waters above Little Falls Dam, 25 miles northwest of Spokane. Boats equipped with sonar fish finders scanned the reservoir’s rugged bottom.

The missing 39-year-old man, whose identity was withheld until his family could be notified, was seen sliding away from the overturned canoe about 4:45 p.m. Wednesday. Searchers are concentrating on a small cove 200 yards upstream from the dam.

Ewing, 46, clung to the canoe until Spokane tribal authorities took him ashore about 5 p.m. By the time he was rescued, Ewing had been in the frigid water for about 80 minutes.

He was declared dead of hypothermia after paramedics spent an hour trying to revive him.

Ten divers searched for the missing man until 8 p.m. Wednesday. Three returned Thursday. Further searches are planned for Saturday, said Spokane County Sheriff’s Deputy Tom Mattern.

The water temperature plunges to 35 degrees beneath the surface, cold enough to paralyze limbs within 10 minutes, diver Jon Stevens said.

“It feels like an ice cream cone headache, all over your body,” Stevens said.

Robert Flett, police chief for the Spokane Tribe, which has jurisdiction over the water where the accident occurred, questioned the decision to canoe.

“What the hell were they doing on the water this time of year?” he said. “You tip over and you’re dead.”

Two flotation cushions were found washed ashore.

Doud, Ewing and the third man were enrolled in the Union Gospel Mission’s two-year alcohol and drug recovery program.

They were staying at the mission’s youth camp near the Long Lake Dam for a three-day vacation. After spending the morning in the camp’s workshop, Doud suggested floating to the Indian painted rocks near the Little Falls Dam.

All three were fit and could swim, Doud said. The unnamed man was a former Marine and experienced canoeist, said Phil Altmeyer, executive director of Union Gospel Mission.

Doud recalls an “eerie feeling” moments before the accident, as the canoe slid from the narrow river into the flat, broad reservoir.

The missing man, sitting in the middle of the canoe, shifted his weight. Doud and Ewing compensated, and the boat capsized.

“It took my breath away,” Doud said. “Brad said, `We’ve got to get out of this water right away.”’ The three men tried to right the canoe, instead filling it with water. Doud snatched a flotation cushion and began kicking to shore.

“I really don’t know why” the others didn’t follow, he said.

Halfway to shore, his legs went numb, and he paddled the last yards with his arms. Doud recalls hearing the men yell that they needed help quickly.

Doud ran east for two miles, until he found the home of a tribal nurse who had called in sick for work. Wrapping him in blankets, the woman, whose identity was not released, called police and raced to the reservoir to find both men still clinging to the canoe.

The men were recent enrollees at the mission’s recovery program, but had earned the notice of counselors and peers, Altmeyer said.

“They’re two individuals who had tremendous triumph in life over their addiction and struggles,” he said. “They were highly respected here at the mission.”

Their deaths compound the grief over another tragedy involving a mission graduate, Altmeyer said. Rod Bevers, killed in a hit-and-run accident last Friday, often returned to the mission, he said.

“We’ve lost three men within five days,” Altmeyer said. “It’s a very tough loss.”

This sidebar appeared with the story: UPCOMING Memorial service

A memorial service for the two men who died in the canoeing accident and another who died last week in a car wreck is planned for Tuesday at 10:30 a.m. in the mission’s chapel, at 1224 E. Trent.