Police Divers Pull Drowning Victim from Waters Off Kirkland Park

Kirkland Police say a 54-year-old man drowned in Lake Washington off Kirkland’s Wednesday evening during a family outing. Dive and marine patrol teams from Kirkland, Mercer Island, Seattle and King County police recovered the man’s body just after 10 p.m.

 One of two other people helped to shore by police divers was the victim's wife. She and the other person helped ashore, a bystander, were attempting to help the man who drowned.

“He was at some type of family activity and might have simply gone after a ball in the water to retrieve it,” said Kirkland Police spokesman Sgt. Rob Saloum. “He had some difficulty and went under. Either family or bystanders went in to rescue him, but he had gone down too deep. Rescue crews helped some of those people out of the water.”

Kirkland Police had both sides of the lakeside park on Holmes Point Drive blocked and were turning away motorists. Several aid cars, fire engines, ladder trucks and police squad cars filled the park beginning at about 8:40 p.m.

Police scanner traffic indicated that at least one "civilian" and perhaps two had made it ashore, possibly from a boat or some small craft. An Officer Jameson at the scene said at least one person was missing.

He was turning away traffic at the north side of the park, advising one motorist, "We're looking for someone in the water. A rescue operation is underway."

At least one police boat with its lights flashing bobbed offshore in the operation.