STRANDED: Deputies declined aid

I read the article Tuesday and wanted to say what I knew of the situation. I received a call from Tyler Hinton around 8 p.m. because his boat was floating and dead in the water near Higgins Point. He told me that he had called 911 and Lake City Marine for a tow but they couldn’t afford to have Lake City Marine to tow them. So I headed to town to get a boat to tow them to the boat launch at Higgins Point.

It was getting dark and the winds were pretty bad, and I really didn’t want to go out but the boat was stranded and it was already dark. So I headed out of the marina where our boat is, and not 100 yards from the marina I was pulled over by the marine deputy. I had my spotlights on so I could see, but not a navigational light on the boat. So, the deputies were out on the water after the 911 call — different from what they reported to the Coeur d’Alene Press.

I explained to the deputies where I was going and they said I couldn’t with just the spotlights and without navigational lights. So I asked them if they were going to go out and check on them, and they said they hadn’t heard anything about it. I said, “Then I am telling you about it now,” but they turned toward the marina and went in.

So I am assuming either the watch commander never called the marine deputies to check if they were on the lake, or the deputies ignored his call. Either way seems like daytime and nighttime breakdowns should be dealt with differently. In the day there are plenty of boaters who can tow another boat, nighttime there aren’t, and if they are already on the lake at night, and only need to tow a boat a short way to a safe boat launch, why wouldn’t they? Tell me how it isn’t dangerous to be floating in the middle of the lake at night with no power and no lights?

Obviously the Sheriff’s Office is uncomfortable with the policy somewhat or they wouldn’t have stated there were no marine deputies on the lake when there were.

JASON GAVERY

Coeur d’Alene