Whitmore Lake— A Whitmore Lake man died and a child believed to be his daughter remained at University Hospital in Ann Arbor on Sunday after falling overboard from a small aluminum boat.
The 2-year-old girl suffered "serious and life-threatening injuries" in the incident, called in about 10:54 a.m., Green Oak Township Deputy Fire Chief Kevin Gentry said.
Both were rushed unconscious to the hospital after being in the bone-chilling water, estimated at 41 degrees. Rescuers, including a couple who took a boat to get to the girl, were able to pull them from the lake, near U.S. 23 about 10 miles north of Ann Arbor.
The couple pulled the girl from the water after she had been immersed for about 20 minutes, police said.
The township Police and Fire departments, Northfield Township Fire and Livingston County Sheriff's deputies located the man about 12:08 p.m.
"They both were in pretty bad shape," said Gentry. "The girl was wearing a life jacket, which kept her on top of the water, but the water was so cold she suffered exposure and hypothermia. He was underwater for some time before he was spotted about 10 feet below the surface. It took divers to pull him out."
Gentry said firefighters and police both responded to "multiple" 911 calls about a 12-foot aluminum boat spinning out of control on Whitmore Lake and people spotted in the water, including a small child.
One of the first to call, David Hammerschmidt, lives across Main Street along the north shore....
"When the snows fall and the white winds blow, the lone wolf dies but the pack survives." Winter is Coming Now this is the Law of the Jungle—as old and as true as the sky; And the wolf that shall keep it may prosper, but the wolf that shall break it must die. As the creeper that girdles the tree-trunk, the Law runneth forward and back; For the strength of the Pack is the Wolf, and the strength of the Wolf is the Pack.
