08/31/2007

Man drowns in bay

By Vanessa McCray

vmccray@record-eagle.com

Record-Eagle/Jan-Michael Stump
A swimmer identified as Charles Krause of Neenah, Wis., is brought to an ambulance on Thursday evening in an apparent drowning at West End Beach in Traverse City.

TRAVERSE CITY — A 21-year-old man's evening swim turned tragic when he was pulled lifeless from seven feet of gently waving water at a West Grand Traverse Bay beach.

The drowning Thursday near the beach volleyball courts along Traverse City's Grandview Parkway was witnessed by a number of park users. But the efforts of those who first rushed to help and the expertise of emergency responders could not revive the victim, identified as Charles Krause, of Neenah, Wis. U.S. Coast Guard Lt. Jeremy Loeb, of air station Traverse City said Krause was an airman and came to Traverse City in May to train as a helicopter mechanic.

"I pushed as hard as I could, got as much fluid out of him as I could,” said Mike Nepote, among those who attempted the rescue.

Nepote said he joined others who dove into the water to help after hearing somebody yell that a swimmer was in trouble. They pulled Krause up from the bottom of the lake, about six or seven feet underwater, he said. Nepote did not know the man.

They got him into a boat and worked to resuscitate him. Those attempts continued as they brought the man to shore.

"We kept trying. We kept trying,” Nepote said.

Police believe the drowning was accidental.

Sgt. Mike Ayling said emergency crews responded around 5:45 p.m. to a call from someone in the victim's group. Krause had been brought to dry land when police arrived at the beach.

"They were unable to revive him at Munson Medical Center,” Ayling said.

Krause swam out from the shore to a spot just outside a buoy-marked swim zone and was underwater about five minutes, Ayling said. The city this June cordoned off the new swim area, forbidding boats from entering the area.

Bikini-clad girls played beach volleyball at nearby sand-filled courts after the scene cleared. Suttons Bay volleyball coach Mike Kelly moved his high school players away from the rescue area, where at least one girl saw the body dragged from the water.

The young athletes were shaken up as they watched the commotion, Kelly said.

"I moved the girls down here,” he said. "A couple of them were crying.”

Kyle Kandel and Brandon Mikowski were kayaking in West Bay and caught the very end of the chaotic shoreline scurry.

The two recounted flashes of the unfolding event: observed emergency responders, noted a stretcher on the beach, heard a woman crying "hysterically.”

"They were pretty much cleared off by the time we got back to shore,” said Kandel.

Police are near completion of the drowning investigation.