Man killed in diving accident identified

SANDPOINT - The name of a Spokane man who was killed in a Saturday diving accident at Kilroy Bay has been released.

Bonner County Sheriff's officials identified the man as Tyler Louis Juhasz, 31.

An autopsy is scheduled for today by the Spokane County Medical Examiner's Office.

Juhasz and two friends boated to the Kilroy Bay area near Hope on Saturday afternoon and were taking turns jumping from the rocks. Juhasz decided to climb to the top of the rock face - a distance of at least 150 feet, or roughly a 14-story building - and jump from there.

Juhasz landed feet-first in the waters of Lake Pend Oreille and failed to surface. His friends called the sheriff's office and its marine patrol and dive teams began an immediate search around 2:30 p.m. Saturday for the missing man.

His body was located several hours later, about 20 feet from shore at a depth of about 140 feet.

Bonner County Sheriff Daryl Wheeler said no further investigation is planned and the death is considered a tragic accident.

Because crews knew where the man jumped into the lake, they were able to find his body relatively quickly. While divers normally can only safely descend to a depth of 130 feet, the sheriff's office dive team was able to cover the extra distance to retrieve the man's body and bring it to the surface, Wheeler said.

The area of Kilroy Bay where the accident took place has rocky terrain with a sheer, rocky cliff abutting the lake. To measure the height of the jump, sheriff's office personnel used a rangefinder to measure the 150-foot distance.