Brandon Twp. – What started out as a summer evening of fishing with his grandfather ended in tragedy for a 57-year-old Ortonville man.
On June 22 Bill Johnson, a Bald Eagle Lake resident drowned while trying to rescue the family dog from the lake.
Marine Division Search and Rescue Deputy John Graham said Johnson was fishing from a pontoon boat with his 9-year-old grandson and two dogs when one of the dogs went overboard and Johnson jumped in to save it.
Johnson grabbed the dog and attempted to return to the boat, which had drifted away.
As Johnson struggled in the water, Graham said the grandson was attempting to start the motor to move the pontoon closer to his grandfather but was unable to get it started.
‘A nearby fisherman noticed there was a problem when he saw the man struggling in the water with the dog in his arms,? said Graham.
As he drove his boat closer to the area the fisherman said he saw Johnson and the dog go underwater several times. As the fisherman reached the area he was able to pull to the dog to safety but Johnson did not resurface.
For more than two hours Tuesday evening Oakland County Sheriff Marine Division divers searched the area where Johnson was last seen but were unable to find him.
‘At 8:30 p.m. the call came in and within 10 minutes a search and rescue was initiated with helicopter assistance,? said Sgt. Tim McIsaac of the Oakland County Sheriff Brandon Substation.
‘But unfortunately, after an hour-and-a-half of searching, it turned into a recovery.?
Expanding the search area on Wednesday morning, after a 58-minute search, Johnson’s body was found in 12 feet of water, not far from where he was last seen.
Graham said there were life vests on the pontoon, however the victim was not wearing one.
Although divers were surfacing draped with nearly 40 pounds of seaweed on them, McIsaac and Graham agree that the area of the lake where Johnson ran into trouble was heavily laden with weeds. However, it did not appear that weeds were a factor in the drowning.
‘The biggest obsticle is visability,? Graham said. ‘But the water there was clear’just difficult to see in some spots because of the weeds.?
‘If you miss it by 10 feet, you miss it by a mile,? Graham said.
Chief McArthur of the Brandon Fire Department, a native to the community, said there has not been a drowning on the area public lakes since he can remember, which Graham says could be due to early boater safety education presented in the schools by the Oakland County Marine Division.