HOLLAND, Mich. — The Ottawa County Sheriff's Office has identified the man whose body was recovered from Lake Macatawa Wednesday night.
Investigators said Thursday afternoon they identified the man as 63-year-old Brian Deputy from Holland.
Originally, the Coast Guard told FOX 17 Wednesday afternoon that it was a rescue effort in the water near Kollen Park in Holland; however, the Ottawa County Sheriff's Office said just before 5:30 p.m. that it had switched to a recovery.
The sheriff's office says the call came in shortly before 2:30 p.m. about a man who had gone under the water and did not resurface.
There had been several people on a pontoon boat in Lake Macatawa, including children.
The sheriff's office says the boat was pulling two small kids on a tube when they fell off and into the water— both were wearing life jackets, but they weren't able to swim back to the raft because of strong winds and the current.
“The main issue today [Wednesday] out there is, as you can see, is the wind-blown current. There is some current naturally occurring within Lake Macatawa, but today [Wednesday], it’s presumably caused by the wind,” Captain J Douglas with the Ottawa County Sheriff’s Office explained. “If you’re in the water floating with a life jacket or anything like that the wind will push you across the water and away from where you’re trying to go.”
Deputy, along with a woman on the boat, jumped into the water to help get the kids back on board— neither adult was wearing a life jacket.
The sheriff's office says Deputy went under the water and did not resurface.
The woman was able to make it back to the boat, and someone on a nearby jet ski was able to help the kids out of the water and back onto the boat, as well.
It's not clear where exactly in the lake this happened, so the agencies on scene were searching a large area.
“We do not have a concrete last seen point, which makes the search extremely difficult and is gonna make the search rather lengthy, likely. There’s conflicting information on where the last seen point was, so until we can nail that down or get some better information, the search area is gonna remain rather large,” Capt. Douglas added.
The sheriff's office says its dive team found Deputy's body around 8 p.m. Wednesday using side scan sonar.
Boats from the sheriff's office Marine Patrol, the Holland Department of Public Safety Police and Fire services, the Michigan DNR and USCG Grand Haven conducted an extensive surface search Wednesday.
The Coast Guard sent a helicopter from Air Station Detroit, while Coast Guard Sector Lake Michigan provided search and rescue coordination.
Plus, the Holland Township and Park Township fire departments sent additional resources.
