June 21 1987

June 21 1987

Police Diver (45) Drowns

Assigned as police diver, rescued four people from an overturned boat, attached a
towline, sank from view and drowned.
American police officer aged 45 died while searching the Detroit River for victims of
a boat that had capsized. It was later alleged that the malfunction of a valve on a
dry suit was a contributing factor to his death.

JUNE, 1987 MICHIGAN
A 45 yoa police diver drowned while attaching a tow line on the surface to an
overturned boat involved in a boating accident. The diver entered the water in a dry
suit, but was without a BC and dry suit underwear and wore in excess of 40 lbs. of
weight. The diver reportedly had problems with his dry suit inflator and dropped
below the surface and drowned.

DETROIT (AP) _ Four people who went overboard when their small boat capsized on
the Detroit River were rescued by other boaters Friday, but a police diver assisting
with the rescue was missing, authorities said.
The craft began sinking at 3:16 p.m. outside Detroit's Renaissance Center, where
thousands gathered Friday to watch Formula One race cars prepare for Sunday's
Detroit Grand Prix VI through the city's downtown streets.
''We're missing a Harbor Master police diver,'' said a petty officer with the Coast
Guard's Belle Isle Lifeboat Station who declined identification.
Police identified the diver as Richard Fortin, 45, a 23-year police officer and a
member of the department's volunteer diving team.
Fortin was assigned to a Fire Department rescue boat patrolling the river along the
Grand Prix circuit, said Executive Deputy Police Chief James Bannon.
''Dick was aboard and wearing a wetsuit, but he did not have on breathing
apparatus,'' Bannon said.
Fortin ''trained in that water and knows it's probably the single most treacherous
piece of water in Michigan,'' Bannon said. ''The current and turbulence created
beneath the surface are deadly.''
The petty officer said four people leaped overboard when the small boat capsized
and were rescued nearby by other boaters. Coast Guard and Detroit police boats
were summoned to the scene and the diver was reported missing at 3:38 p.m.
Philip Frame, who works in the Renaissance Center, said he saw a man holding onto
the capsized boat as the Coast Guard was attempting to attach a tow line to it,
when he began drifting downstream.
''There were a dozen boats around him, including a police boat, and nobody went
after him,'' Frame said. ''He started gesturing the boats toward him to 'Come get
me.' He just kept waving. All of a sudden he went under and, poof, he was gone.''