Victim pulled from Lake Michigan near 31st Street Beach identified, passengers describe chaotic scene

CHICAGO — An evening on a boat in Lake Michigan to celebrate a birthday ended tragically Friday when the vessel capsized near 31st Street Beach.

Chicago police said 16 people were on board the boat at the time of the incident, and all were accounted for, except for one adult male.

That was 40-year-old Country Club Hills resident Lorenzo Tobin. Some aboard the boat say Tobin stayed in the water to help the captain after it capsized, and family and friends were praying for a miracle after he didn’t make it back to shore.

On Sunday, Tobin’s body was recovered from Lake Michigan.

According to Chicago police, the body was recovered from the lake by members of the CPD Marine Unit in an area near the 3100 block of South DuSable Lake Shore Drive just before 1 p.m. The Cook County Coroner’s Office later identified the man as Tobin.

Passengers described being on the boat Friday when the nightmare began. Around 7:30 p.m., the 16 passengers began to notice something was wrong.

“The boat is leaning and leaning, and it’s like, ‘Oh, my God,'” passenger Dongina Knight said. “And that’s when I fell off the boat.

“The first guy jumped, and then I fell off, and I was in the water. I’m like, ‘Lord, please not today.'”

“It was real chaotic,” passenger Lennie Williams said. “There was another boat that came in and tried to help some of us, and the boat almost hit me and my wife. So as I’m swimming, I’m kind of kicking the boat to get us to shore.”

Passengers did confirm other vessels were able to help them get to shore.

Investigators have not determined what caused the boat to capsize.

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