Man Dies After Being Pulled From River In Homewood
UPDATED 02/14/12 6:52 a.m.
HOMEWOOD, Ill. (CBS) – A 59-year old man has died after he fell into a small lake in Homewood.
As WBBM Newsradio's Lisa Fielding reports, rescuers were called to the Isaak Walton Nature Preserve, in the 1100 block of Ridge Road in Homewood, when they arrived they found a hat, a cane and articles of clothing near an opening in the ice.
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They also noticed a dog on the loose.
Firefighters found the man and pulled him out of an area about 10 feet deep, but he remained unconscious. The man was taken to Ingalls Hospital in Harvey.
The victim was taken by Glenwood paramedics to Ingalls Memorial Hospital in Harvey, where he was pronounced dead, the chief said.
William Kasper, 59, was found submerged in water in the 1100 block of Ridge Road in Homewood, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner's office.
Kasper, of the 1800 block of Gottschalk Avenue in Homewood, was pronounced dead at 4:58 p.m. at Ingalls Memorial Hospital in Harvey, the medical examiner's office said.
An autopsy is scheduled for Tuesday.
Dustin Neuliep, of Chicago Heights, said he called 911 about 3:30 p.m., after he and his girlfriend were walking their dogs along a trail and noticed two loose dogs, one on the trail and one on the ice. They then spotted the dogs' leashes and a cane on the ice and a hat and gloves in the icy water, Neuliep said.
"We realized that someone had apparently fallen through the ice, but I couldn't get out to where they had gone under because of the thin ice," he said.
Neuliep, 32, said he was able to coax the dog from the ice before firefighters arrived, and both the victim's dogs were taken away by firefighters.
The Isaak Walton Preserve is 193 acres of "trails, lakes, dunes, woodlands and savannas," according to its Web site.
The SouthtownStar contributed to this report, via the Sun-Times Media Wire.
(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2012. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
