Family says 911 no help after boat stranded on lake

COEUR d’ALENE — A Thursday evening boat ride turned into an ordeal that left a local family afloat and stranded, unable to summon help for hours on Lake Coeur d’Alene.

Samantha Krous, 20, said the cruise came to a halt when the boat the family and friends were riding in broke down. It happened a short time after 7, the time Krous boarded the vessel at Higgens Point.

She and the other boat passengers — Krous’ parents, her 6- and 9-year-old brothers, her boyfriend and a friend — thought the craft would be repaired quickly and they would be on their way, Krous said.

But hours passed and they still couldn't get the boat running, nor could they flag down any of the few remaining boaters on the water. With no place to turn, Krous said the family eventually called 911 for assistance, and they were shocked by the response they got from the operator.

"They pretty much told us 'You guys are screwed, sorry. Hope you survive the night,'" Krous said. "It traumatized me. I mean, why would I ever call the police for anything now?"

Before the boat stopped running, the group heard a loud noise, Krous said. The men began working to fix the problem, and the other passengers went swimming while they waited.

"It started to get darker, so we all got in the boat," Krous said of the situation just before 10 p.m. "We had three car batteries in the boat with us. We went through all of the batteries just sitting there with our lights on trying to signal someone. No one could hear us screaming or see us trying to flag them down."

Soon, the lake was empty of boats. Krous said the boaters, particularly her younger brothers, were starting to feel increasingly cold.

Around midnight, they decided to call 911 to tell a dispatcher they were stranded on a boat in the middle of the lake with two young children on board.

"The 911 operator told us there was nothing they could do and that we needed to call the marine police," Krous said. "She gave us the number. We called them and got an answering machine because they were closed."

Krous' family immediately called 911 again and, for a second time, they were told they were on their own.

"The operator told us there was nothing they could do unless someone was drowning or our boat was sinking," Krous said. "We're in the middle of the lake with two small children and they're saying they can't do anything when we know they have police boats patrolling all the time."

After repeatedly telling the operator they needed assistance, Krous said they were told there was nothing emergency agencies could do and the call would have to be disconnected to keep the line free.

Since their phones were dying, Krous said her friend, Katie, a passenger on the boat, called her mother on shore to make her aware of the situation. Krous also posted a status on Facebook letting people know what was going on, where the boat was located, and encouraging Facebook friends to call 911 in an effort to get the family help.

"Multiple people called and they were all told the same thing," Krous said. "Water was starting to splash up over the boat because of how windy it was. We're sitting there freezing with young children between us, trying to keep them warm, and the police were still saying we were pretty much screwed."

Finally, around 1:30 a.m., using the last remaining cellphone with power, the group was able to contact Katie’s father who then towed his boat down to the lake from Hayden. The flashlight from the same dying phone, Krous said, was used to signal for assistance when the boat arrived.

"Thank gosh they found us," Krous said. "It took us an hour and a half to get the boat pulled in to where it was docked because the wind was pushing it so hard."

It was around 4:30 a.m., Krous said, when the group of boaters got back to their respective homes. Rattled by the events and the lack of help from 911, Krous said she wants to raise awareness in the community about what happened to her and her family.

"We just want the police to know that it's not OK to leave a family stranded on the lake," Krous said. "We want people to know that this is what they told us when we called the police for help."

The Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office Recreation Safety Section is responsible for providing marine law enforcement and rescue patrols on 18 lakes, including Lake Coeur d’Alene, and 56 miles of river in the county.

Attempts by The Press to reach the sheriff's office for comment Friday afternoon were unsuccessful.