Beachgoer seriously hurt in dive

SANDPOINT — A 24-year-old man was seriously injured Wednesday after diving into shallow water in Lake Pend Oreille at City Beach.

Friends of the man said they were enjoying an afternoon at the beach, tossing around a football and soaking in the water. They said their friend dove into the water, but it was too shallow.

Travis McReynolds looked back and saw his friend in trouble in the waters off the Edgewater Resort.

“I looked back and his head was bobbing in the water,” McReynolds said.

Accounts diverge as to what occurred after that.

City officials praised its lifeguards Wednesday for conducting another rescue. Lifeguards were due to be honored by the City Council for their efforts in a rescue earlier this month, but the agenda item was postponed because of Wednesday’s incident. The call for advanced life-support personnel at City Beach was put out about 15 minutes before the council meeting’s start, according to a Bonner Dispatch call log. Selkirk Fire Rescue & EMS and Bonner County EMS responded to the call.

But McReynolds and his companions insisted on Thursday that lifeguards were undeserving of praise because they were slow to act when their friend was injured.

“They weren’t very responsive,” McReynolds said.

McReynolds said he and his friends were the ones who actually rescued the man and took him ashore, where an off-duty nurse began administering CPR.

Selkirk Fire, meanwhile, posted the following statement to its Facebook page:

“Selkirk Fire along with Sandpoint lifeguards, Sandpoint Police, Bonner County EMS and private citizens all rendered aid to the seriously injured male who was pulled from the water.”

McReynolds said his friend shattered vertebrae in the misadventure. He was evacuated from Sandpoint in a Lifeflight Network helicopter. He is being treated at Kootenai Health, but McReynolds said it’s unclear what his prognosis is and McReynolds said his friend could be paralyzed below the neck.

“He can barely move his arm,” said McReynolds.

City officials reaffirmed their praise for the lifeguards who responded.

“We are still in the process of completing our own internal review, but I can confirm that the lifeguards did respond and performed lifesaving techniques as trained,” City Administrator Jennifer Stapleton said in a statement.

Staff writer Mary Malone contributed to this report.