A man drowned in Cowlitz County Thursday morning after running from a police officer and swimming out into Horseshoe Lake, Woodland police said.
Woodland police Officer Alex Olson encountered the unidentified man in Horseshoe Lake Park, about 30 miles north of Portland, shortly after 12:00 a.m., when the park was closed, Woodland Police Department said in a statement on Thursday.
But when Olson flashed the emergency lights on his police car, the man ran away and jumped into the lake, police said.
The man made it about halfway across the lake and then started yelling for help, saying that he couldn’t swim anymore, police said.
Officer Olson called for the Cowlitz County Sheriff’s Office’s Dive Team and Clark Cowlitz Fire & Rescue; he then grabbed a lifejacket and tried to find the drowning man, but it was dark and the man appeared to have disappeared under the water’s surface.
Sheriff’s office divers found the man dead about five hours later, police said.
The Cowlitz County Coroner’s Office is working to identify the man.
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