Medical examiner says 36-year-old drowned last weekend in Spokane River

The Spokane County Medical Examiner’s Office identified the man who died last weekend in the Spokane River near the Spokane Police Department Training Center.

Joseph Cole, 36, drowned, the office said.

Firefighters were called around 12:40 p.m. Dec. 10 to the training center, 2302 N. Waterworks St., after Spokane police reported a man entering the river and disappearing beneath the surface, according to the Spokane Fire Department.

The center is next to the Upriver Dam and north of Felts Field.

Rescue crews searched the river for an hour before locating Cole in about 15 feet of water near where police saw him.