Coast Guard, sheriff search for Lansing man in Lake Huron

LANSING, Mich. (WLNS) — The Huron County Sheriff’s Department and the Coast Guard were tied up for hours from Saturday night to Sunday morning in a search and rescue effort for a man who was thrown from his boat miles away from shore in Lake Huron.

Deputies responded to the 9000 block of Sand Point in Caseville Township shortly before 10 p.m. on Saturday after receiving calls from residents about a small boat going around in circles 2 miles offshore with no occupants inside. Authorities began to suspect that whoever was inside had likely been thrown off.

As the sun set, patrol boats from the sheriff’s department and a Coast Guard boat arrived to search the lake for the missing boater, though they called off the search at around 2:30 a.m. due to poor visibility.

Shortly before 6 a.m., the search resumed, and responders from the Caseville Fire Department pulled the boat ashore. The boat had an empty gas tank, and the motor was still in gear. Its registration was linked to an individual out of Macomb, Michigan, and dispatchers began looking for possible connections to Huron County, attempting to learn more about the missing boater.

Approximately two hours later, authorities received information that the boat’s operator had swam to shore after being ejected from his boat.

Authorities learned that the operator was a 45-year-old man from Lansing, and he told authorities he had been thrown from the boat after hitting a wave while on his way to Caseville, and the boat continued in circles. He also told authorities he was hit by the boat at least one time, and felt no necessity to report to 911 that he had abandoned his boat offshore.

The Huron County Sheriff’s Department says that alcohol had a large role in this incident and that enforcement action has been taken against the man for his “carelessness.”

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