21-year-old drowns while swimming across Oakland County lake with friend

INDEPENDENCE TWP. (WWJ) — A young Oakland County man is dead after drowning while swimming with a friend in a lake Tuesday afternoon.

The 21-year-old man, whose name has not been released, was swimming in Townsend Lake in Independence Township when he unexpectedly went underwater and did not resurface, according to the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office.

The Oakland County Sheriff’s Search and Rescue Team was called to the lake — east of Dixie Highway near the intersection of Waterford Road — around 1:40 p.m.

Divers found the man about 100 feet from the shore in about 20 feet of water shortly after 2 p.m.

Paramedics from the Independence Township Fire Department performed life-saving measures. He was taken to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Sheriff Mike Bouchard told WWJ’s Ryan Wrecker the friends were swimming for fitness on Tuesday.

“We had a young individual, he and a friend, both physically fit, were out for a great day to swim and enhance their physicality, enhance their fitness, and decided to swim across the lake,” Bouchard said. “And at some point in that endeavor, he became tired, exhausted, and slipped under the water.”

Between drownings and watercraft crashes, Bouchard said it has already been a dangerous summer on Oakland County lakes.

“Unfortunately we have seen a lot of tragedy on our lakes this year. And today was a very, very tragic event as well,” Bouchard said.

Earlier this month a Canton teen was hospitalized after a jet ski crash on Cass Lake in Waterford, while a Troy man crashed his jet ski into his son’s over the Fourth of July holiday weekend.

“The common thread is this: anytime you’re having activities on the water, caution is advised,” Bouchard said. “Proper safety equipment, proper plans and protocols if a dangerous situation arises. And if you’ve been drinking, it’s a good idea to have a personal flotation device on all the time. Because if somehow you end up in the water, unintended, and you’ve been drinking, there’s a good possibility your physicality will be diminished by the alcohol, by the sun, by your activity. We’ve had far too many drownings this year.”

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