One drowns, another saved at Hauser Lake

HAUSER LAKE, Idaho – Summer’s longest day was marred by a drowning here Tuesday afternoon when two brothers from Priest River went for a swim and couldn’t make it back to shore.

Both had to be rescued, and one was revived. The older brother died at Kootenai Medical Center.

The 24-year-old drowning victim had been submerged for at least five minutes before being rescued shortly before 4 p.m., according to Sgt. Andy Boyle.

He was transferred to KMC by Medstar air ambulance. The Sheriff’s Department was withholding the names of the men until relatives could be notified of the tragedy.

The man’s 19-year-old brother had tried to save his older brother when he became distressed about 30 feet from shore, according to the Sheriff’s Department. But then the 19-year-old became distressed, too, and had to be rescued and revived by CPR, authorities said.

A 14-year-old Hauser boy pulled one of the brothers from the water. Randall Rothwell, 14, found the man on the bottom of the lake, about 8 to 10 feet underwater, nearly 30 feet from shore. With the help of his father, Steve Rothwell, he brought the man to shore and started CPR.

The father and son were fishing along the north shoreline of the lake when a boy came running up and asked for help. Randall said he ran to the car for goggles, while his dad donned flippers and dove in the lake.

Steve Rothwell said he found the man submerged about 30 feet from the shoreline.

“When I went for him, I couldn’t get him. I was out of air,” Rothwell said. When he came up for air, he showed Randall where the victim was.

Randall dove down.

“I seen him belly first,” he said. “I was able to get my arms under his armpits.”

Randall pulled him to the surface with “brute strength and adrenaline,” his dad said. Randall started to run out of breath and took in some water on the way up, and both he and his father swam the unconscious stranger to shore.

They were greeted in the water by several of the victims’ family members, who helped bring the man up on the shore. Steve Rothwell, a former firefighter, and his son started CPR and were spelled after a few minutes by a nurse, who also was fishing down the shoreline from the accident scene.

“I only did it for a minute” before ambulance crews arrived and took over, said Heather Toombs of Post Falls. “It’s the first time I ever had to do that. It’s not a pleasant experience.”

The Rothwells were not the first ones in the water to try to rescue the struggling swimmers, they said. The victims’ family members tried to bring the victim to shore, but became exhausted and had to drop him, they said.

“Everybody was physically having a hard time – they all had injuries,” Toombs said. Even his mother tried to haul him out, she said; “She was distraught. She couldn’t get him out.”

Exactly what caused the swimming accident was still under investigation late Tuesday, Boyle said.

Sheriff’s investigators need to do follow-up interviews with family members and find out if the two men had medical problems that might have triggered the accident.

Tuesday was the summer solstice, when the sun reaches its highest point in the sky all year. It was also one of the first really hot summer days in North Idaho, with temperatures reaching the 90s in some locations.

Still, water temperatures are colder than usual for this time of year from recent springlike weather, Boyle said. He suggested that children and adults wear life jackets while swimming in area lakes in case they do become exhausted or run into trouble.

While Randall’s father called him a hero, the somewhat subdued 14-year-old said, “I shoulda got there faster.”