Sheriff Bratton Recognizes Dive Team
Members for Rescue Effort
Pictured: Chief Deputy Riedmaier, Pat Heschel, Sergeant Hickman and Sheriff Bratton
On Thursday, June 30, 2005, Sheriff Bratton and Chief Deputy Riedmaier recognized Pat Heschel and Sergeant Jeff Hickman for their efforts in the rescue of persons from a sinking boat in the Sandusky Bay on June 6, 2005. The presentation took place before the Ottawa County Commissioners at their regular meeting.
| The following is posted from an
article in the Sandusky Register.
Six rescued from Sandusky Bay |
| Six boaters were rescued Sunday night in Sandusky Bay
near the Thomas Edison Memorial Bridge after a storm kicked up waves
that sank their boat. The passengers from a 171Ú2-foot Galaxy boat called for help at about 8:30 p.m., reporting they had broken down, said Jeff Nehls, spokesman from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Watercraft Division. Dive teams from ODNR, the Ottawa County Sheriff's Office and the U.S. Coast Guard assisted in the rescue effort. The sheriff's office's Underwater Recovery Team, which was dispatched to the scene at 9:08 p.m., heard two individuals screaming and saw Brandon Johnson, 20, and Nicki Straight, 21, both of Lindsey, Ohio, clinging to a board, according to reports. Both were wearing lifejackets. The two were pulled aboard and taken to shore at nearby Ohio 2. Johnson and Straight were treated by Lakeside Fire Department and were taken to Magruder Hospital where they were treated for hypothermia and shock and released, Nehls said. The remaining four, boat owner and operator Nick Laurer, 20, Fremont; Derrin Wilbur, 20, Fremont; Jesse Wukie, 20, Lindsey; and another unnamed female, were able to make it to shore on their own, according to reports. The unnamed female was taken to Firelands where she was treated and released, Nehls said. The boat was improperly anchored from its stern, Coast Guard Petty Officer Mike Dechant said. Waves picked up from Sunday night's storm and water came into the boat at its stern, he said. When salvage crews arrived, the bow of the boat was sticking out of the water while the rest of the vessel was submerged, Dechant said. ODNR towed the boat to the Sandusky city ramp where it was turned over to marine salvage company Lake Erie Towing, Nehls said. The waves were about three feet high on Lake Erie at the time, Dechant said. "It was a small boat," he said. "It wouldn't have taken much to swamp it." |
For more information about the Ottawa County Sheriffs Office Underwater Recovery Team please visit:
http://www.ottawacountysheriff.org/marine.html
Posted June 30, 2005