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No charges in Palisades-Kepler drowning; lifeguard shares rescue story
No charges will be filed in the drowning death of a Lisbon man at Palisades-Kepler State Park Sunday night.
Linn County Sheriff Chief Deputy Col. John Stuelke said Tuesday the investigation is complete into the death of 41-year-old Jonathan Jones from Lisbon, and that there will be no criminal charges filed.
The incident was determined to be a tragic accident, Stuelke said.
Jones' body was recovered Monday night. Officials say he drowned while helping rescue two children from dangerous currents in the Cedar River at Palisades-Kepler, just west of Mount Vernon on Highway 30.
Jones wasn't the only person risking his life. Several people jumped into the water to try and save the two children and a woman, who were all taken to St. Luke's Hospital but are expected to be OK.
"I was fishing with my girlfriend over on the sand barge,” said lifeguard Nathan Marling, 18, who said he heard people screaming for help.
"I picked the closest ones to me," Marling said. "I swam there and tried to help them but they were stuck in the current."
Marling says he saw a small boy gasping for air just above the water on top of a man, later identified as Jones.
"I tried to pick them both up at the same time, but I couldn't," Marling said. "I was struggling for air so I picked up the child and brought him to shore."
It was a gut wrenching split-second decision.
Reporting drownings at Palisades-Kepler State Park, 1995-2011
- July 30, 1995:
- July 26, 1997:
- July 26, 1998:
- July 7, 2002:
- August 6, 2002:
- May 27, 2003:
- June 19, 2011: Jonathan Jones
Reporting drownings at Palisades-Kepler State Park, 1995-2011
- July 30, 1995: Sonya Smith Cinkan
- July 26, 1997: Greg Knipper
- July 26, 1998: Steven M. Dvorak
- July 7, 2002: Merwyn Schlabach and Norman Kauffman
- August 6, 2002: William Owens-Wentz
- May 27, 2003: Steven McGlashing
- June 19, 2011: Jonathan Jones
"You get pretty worried," Marling said. "You know there's a current to the dam a quarter mile downstream. Your heart starts going. You feel like you're getting pushed the whole time."
Marling watched Jones being swept away in the unforgiving Cedar River, so rescue crews searched the river by boat.
Rescue crews say they'll have to wait for an official autopsy, but are certain the man they found is Jones. The names of the children involved have not been released.
RELATED STORY:
Woman rescued at Palisades tells of ordeal; ranger warns of river's dangerRELATED STORY:
Linn County Sheriff's Department deputies search dopwnstream from a sandbar below the dam of the Cedar River for the body of a person that was swept under the water by the current of the river at Palisades Kepler State Park on Monday, June 20, 2011, in west of Mount Vernon, Iowa. (Jim Slosiarek/The Gazette)
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