A man drowned in Clear Creek Reservoir in Chaffee County early Thursday evening, after the aluminum boat he and two little girls were in began to sink, the Sheriff’s Department said.
David Lucero, 32, of Leadville, was trying to get the girls, ages 6 and 8, to shore when he drowned.
Family and friends helped get the girls safely to the shore, but the man succumbed during the ordeal, which was first reported to authorities at 5:48 p.m. Lucero was not wearing a life preserver, but the girls were, the Chaffee County Sheriff’s Department stated.
Lucero, the girls and others had been enjoying a picnic at the reservoir.
Witnesses pulled Lucero to shore and started CPR, but he was pronounced dead at the scene.
” The victim was doing small figure eights at a slow speed approximately 400 feet from shore when the boat began to take on water,” the Sheriff’s Department stated. “The victim and the passengers eventually ended up in the water and the victim immediately began to take the girls towards shore.”
