Detroit man drowns while swimming at Kensington Metro Park, fourth drowning in Oakland County in less than a month

MILFORD TOWNSHIP (WWJ) A Detroit man has drowned in Kensington Lake in Milford Township—the fourth person to lose their life in an Oakland County lake in the past three weeks.

In a news release; the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office said the man, 21, drowned at Martindale Beach in Kensington Metro Park, on Huron River Parkway near I-96, on Saturday (7/27) around 6 p.m. The Sheriff’s Office Search & Rescue Team (SSRT) was initially dispatched on a report of a child that may have gone under the water.

After arriving at the scene; the SSRT learned the man had been swimming with his friend when he started to struggle and slipped under the water in the marked swimming area, the sheriff’s office said.

“Investigators believe the victim may have attempted to grab a nearby buoy but could not hold on,” the release read. “The friend did not speak English, making it difficult to convey to others that the man was in peril.”

Another swimmer saw the man go under water and called for help, the sheriff’s office said.

The SSRT, with help from the Southeast Michigan Dive Group Livingston and Wayne counties’ strike teams, found him unresponsive. He was lying in six to eight feet of water, 50 yards from shore, according to the sheriff’s office.

Milford Township Fire Department paramedics rushed him to a nearby hospital where he was pronounced dead.

His name has not been released.

The sheriff’s office said this is the 10th drowning in an Oakland County lake in 2024, and the fourth one in the past three weeks.

On July 6th; a Detroit man, 62, fell off a boat into White Lake and never resurfaced. On July 16th; a Highland Township man, 21, drowned while swimming in Townsend Lake in Highland Township. And on July 20th; a Detroit man, 20, died while swimming with his friend in Taylor Lake in Rose Township.

“A source of great fun and joy can become a location of tragedy as we have seen far too often in our lakes this summer,” Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard said. “I encourage people to have emergency capabilities nearby including floatation devices, and watch each other while in the water. If you are not a strong swimmer, it’s a good idea to wear a floatation device.”