NEWS RELEASE

Death of Fisherman off Davis Besse Nuclear Power Station

On the morning of Saturday, February 7, 2009 local law enforcement, fire and emergency medical agencies, along with the Coast Guard and others were dispatched to the Crane Creek State Park for a report of ice fishermen stranded on Lake Erie. Initial reports indicated there may be has many as five hundred fishermen involved.

At 3:01PM the Ottawa County Sheriffs Office received a cellular 911 call reporting a man had gone through the ice a short distance north of the Davis Besse Nuclear Power Station. The initial report indicated the man was not breathing and unresponsive and that CPR was being performed.

The Carroll Township Fire and Emergency Medical Service was dispatched to the area, as was the United States Coast Guard helicopter who was performing search and rescue operations for other fisherman. The victim was located, picked up and flown by the Coast Guard helicopter to Firelands Regional Medical Center in Sandusky Ohio where he was later pronounced deceased.

The Ottawa County Sheriffs Office conducted an investigation into the mans death. It was learned the man, his son-in-law and a friend had come to Carroll Township on Thursday, February 5, 2009 and spent the night at a local campground. On Friday they went out on the lake and fished in the area of ‘A Can’. This morning about 8:30AM they returned to the same fishing area. A few hours later they noticed the helicopters in the area and saw other fisherman leaving because of the deteriorating ice conditions. The three men, on two snowmobiles, travelled in an easterly direction trying to find a spot they could cross a crack that had developed between them and shore. The victim, alone on his snowmobile, became stuck in some snow after having mechanical difficulty with a small trailer he was towing. He worked on getting his snowmobile free and continued on his way. As he got closer, at a position about halfway between the Davis Besse cooling tower and the mouth of the Toussaint River, and about 200 yards off shore, his snowmobile broke through the ice. His son-in-law and friend saw the victim stand up on his snowmobile which was in about 3 feet of water. They assisted him back onto solid ice and were going to transport him to shore on their second snowmobile. As the victim sat on the second snowmobile, he collapsed and fell off the seat, suffering what they felt was an apparent heat attack. His friend called 911 and he and the victims’ son-in-law performed CPR until the Coast Guard helicopter arrived and transported the hospital.

According to the victims’ son-in-law and friend, the victim had a history of various medical conditions and they stated he had not been acting in his normal manner the past two days.

Victim:  Leslie L. Love, age 65, New Albany, Ohio (Franklin County)

The case remains under investigation by the Ottawa County Sheriffs Office and the Erie County Coroners Office.

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Posted February 7, 2009