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A 65-year-old Tomball man drowned Saturday evening in Lake Conroe after swimming to catch an unmoored boat. This is the popular lake’s first drowning of 2019.
Around 7:15 p.m., the unidentified man jumped into the water without a life vest, becoming distressed and drowning. He was trying to pull in a pontoon boat owned by someone else and which had come unmoored from the dock at the Sunset Shores RV park in Willis, according to Justice of the Peace Wayne Mack
Bystanders tried to throw life jackets at the man to help him, with one man going out in a kayak in an effort to rescue him. The man had been with his wife, children and grandchildren when he jumped in the water and drowned. His body was recovered around 10:30 p.m., Mack said.
Dive teams with the Montgomery County Precinct 1 Constable’s Office, North Montgomery County Fire and Conroe Fire Department were involved in the search and recovery of the man’s remains. Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office deputies and Montgomery County Hospital District first responders were also on site, Mack added.
The drowning “just reiterates the fact that anytime you get in the water in Lake Conroe, you should have a life vest on,” Mack said Saturday night.
Montgomery County Pct. 1’s Lt. Tim Cade said late last month that in the 12 years he has been patrolling Lake Conroe, all drowning victims he had seen were not wearing life jackets. Mack, who regularly reports to county fatalities, told media Saturday night he had only seen one lake drowning victim who was equipped with a life jacket.
Though Mack described the owner of the unmoored boat as a “friend” of the drowning victim, he said it was unknown whether the two knew each other.
“It’s very sad. This was a great man, great family and he was just trying to help a friend,” Mack said.