Searchers find man’s battered canoe

The Spokane County marine patrol searched Saturday for a young man whose father found his damaged canoe on the west bank of the Spokane River shortly before noon.

Kiernan E. Norman, 18, put his 12-foot canoe in the river about 6 p.m. Friday just above the Devil’s Toenail Rapid, about one mile above the intersection of Aubrey L. White Parkway and Rifle Club Road, said Deputy Wade Nelson.

A friend who helped launch the canoe said he saw Norman enter the rapid, one of the most dangerous on the river. He saw the canoe emerge below but could not tell if Norman was still in it because the light was fading, Nelson said.

Cpl. Jon Strickland of the Spokane Police Department said the boy was known not to come home every night, so his family did not become concerned until Saturday morning, when they began a search.

They spotted the canoe hung up in a willow just above the Plese Flats picnic area, the usual takeout for canoeists and rafters, then called rangers at Riverside State Park, who notified police about noon Saturday.

The canoe was recovered by the marine patrol, mostly volunteers, using a motorized raft.

Strickland said the friend saw a personal flotation device in the canoe, but Norman did not put it on. The PFD was recovered mid-afternoon Saturday above Rifle Club Road, Strickland said.

Norman’s father told police his son had some canoeing experience.

Because the river has become murky and is moving swiftly with spring runoff, Strickland said, divers did not enter the water, which is about 36 degrees. At that temperature, someone in the water would have to make it to shore quickly before hypothermia sets in, he said.

Strickland said he was not sure if the search would resume today.