Man pulled from frigid Lake Cd'A near Tubbs Hill
<p>Crews with the Coeur d’Alene Police Department, Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office and Coeur d’Alene Fire Department, carry a man, believed by authorities to be about 20-years-old, to a gurney after coaxing him out of the frigid waters of Lake Coeur d’Alene Thursday near the Third Street boat launch. Officers responded to a disturbance call and found the man in chest-deep water who had been in the lake for about two hours.</p>
COEUR d'ALENE - A male with apparent suicidal intentions spent nearly two tense hours in chilly Lake Coeur d'Alene on Thursday afternoon before being rescued.
The man, who declined to leave the water near the entrance to Tubbs Hill at McEuen Park after repeated requests to do so, was transported to Kootenai Health.
"We waited until he lost his fight, and the cold water took care of that for us," said Coeur d'Alene police Sgt. Scott Teneyck. "Hypothermia had started to set in and he lost use of his extremities. He lost his energy and, when we came in contact with him, he didn't have much fight left in him."
Teneyck estimated the temperature of the lake was below 40 degrees.
The ordeal drew several units from Coeur d'Alene Police, the Kootenai County Sheriff's Office and Coeur d'Alene Fire, and about 30 onlookers along the Tubbs Hill trail and lake overlook at the park.
The man, who Teneyck believed is around 20 years old, was not wearing a shirt, and remained in the water at chest-level just off the rocky shoreline. He intermittently grunted in pain, shook his head at responders and raised his hands from the water.
Multiple responders on the shore kept conversing with the man while two divers gradually entered the water from the docks behind him and approached. A boat from the KCSO was launched and on standby.
When the man finally reached for the responders on shore, the divers swooped behind to assist with lifting him. Several responders placed him on a gurney without incident around 3:45 p.m.
Teneyck said it's difficult to say whether or not the man was under the influence of anything.
"We just hope that he'll be OK," Teneyck said.