Swimmer found dead at Lake of the Ozarks was not wearing a life jacket
According to the Highway Patrol incident report, William Gordon-Price, 27, was not wearing a life jacket when he disappeared under the water Monday afternoon and never resurfaced.
He had been out with a couple other people, they’d been swimming off the boat,” said Sgt. Scott White. “Some wind came up, and the boat started to drift away. Everyone started to swim back to the boat and unfortunately, he was not able to make it.”
Divers from different agencies spent hours trying to find him in the murky waters of the lake near Grand Glaize arm. Recent rain across the state has washed debris into the Lake of the Ozarks and made the water conditions difficult to see through.
Highway Patrol divers eventually found Gordan-Price’s body 66 feet under the surface.
White told ABC 17 News that it’s critical for anyone going out on or into the water to wear a life jacket. Children under 7 are required to wear one unless they’re in closed cabin.
“You can’t predict when an emergency is going to happen.” said White. “You can’t predict when you may get a cramp or anything along those lines. So the biggest defense you have against any type of emergency on the waterways is wearing a life jacket.”
He said water is “unpredictable” and “unforgiving,” and people need to be careful.
“It’s not like they’ve, you know, slid into a ditch or hydroplaned into a ditch,” he said. “If you end up in the water, whether it’s a slip off a dock or off of a boat, it’s a very unpredictable environment so that’s why we stress people wear their life jackets.”
As more people take to the lake this summer, troopers recommend keeping a proper lookout for other vessels, wakes, and also the shoreline.
“Every year we work boat crashes in which someone drives upon the land,” White said. “Furthermore a lot of the injuries we see are when a boat strikes a large wake.”
