LEWISTON
Police identify drowning victim
Published: November 24, 2009, 12:30 am
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LEWISTON — A 57-year-old Buffalo maintenance worker has been identified as the man who apparently became disoriented, fell into a small lake and drowned Saturday in northwestern Niagara County.
Ireri Gitari, of Lisbon Avenue, a Kenyan native who had been in the United States for about 15 years, was pronounced dead at the scene Saturday. No next of kin has been located, Niagara County sheriff’s deputies said Monday.
Chief Deputy Steven Preisch said that Gitari and a friend spent Saturday building a campfire in nearby Meyers Lake, one of a string of three small lakes — all former quarries — in Bond Lake County Park. The two men spent the afternoon cooking and drinking alcohol, deputies said. They were unfamiliar with the lake and the woods that surround it.
At some point, Gitari wandered away from the campsite in the dark, apparently became disorientated and fell off a ledge into the lake, Preisch said.
Authorities were called about 6 p. m. After a two-hour search that was joined by Lewiston police, the U. S. Border Patrol and the state police, Gitari’s body was found at about 8 p. m. near Black Nose Spring Road.
Officers used night-vision equipment and a K-9 dog in the search.
The death does not appear to be suspicious. Water temperature and the clothing Gitari was wearing contributed to the drowning, Preisch said. The water temperature was in the 40s and Gitari’s clothes would have weighed about 30 pounds soaking wet.
“Hypothermia takes the breath right out of you,” the chief deputy said. “With the water temperature and heavy clothing, he likely drowned within minutes.”
Temperatures can change quickly this time of year, especially after darkness falls at about 5 p. m., and when you are drinking, you often don’t notice the change right away, Preisch added.
nfischer@buffnews.com
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