15 Minutes of Fame

The Windsor Star Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Dave Sutton, 74, with the 16-foot outboard boat which he used to rescue three young people whose canoe capsized off Cedar Island Monday.

Photograph by: Scott Webster, The Windsor Star

KINGSVILLE, Ont. — An early summer outing on Lake Erie nearly turned tragic Monday when a canoe carrying three teenagers capsized off Cedar Beach Island near Kingsville.

Police responded to a call for assistance around 2 p.m. and found two 18-year-old men and a 16-year-old girl floundering in the water.

Dave Sutton, 74, was outdoors at his summer cottage when he noticed the youths in the water and heard a commotion. “You see that quite often out here, and a lot of times they’re just out playing around. Finally I started hearing them yelling,” he said.

When two Kingsville OPP officers approached him and asked if he had a boat, he revved up the motor of his four-seater fishing vessel and ferried the officers to the scene.

While two of the youths were in “fairly good shape” when they arrived, Sutton said the second man was drifting in and out of consciousness and was bobbing up and down in the water.

Sutton said the OPP officer, identified by police as Const. Steve Campbell, stripped off his uniform — right down to his socks and red plaid boxers — and dove into the water to rescue the youths. Two of the youths were helped aboard Sutton's boat and taken ashore.

One of the young men was taken to Leamington District Memorial Hospital with injuries that were not life-threatening.

A Canadian Coast Guard vessel and the Kingsville Fire Rescue Service’s Superduxx boat also responded, bringing the other youth to shore and retrieving the capsized canoe.

The teenage canoeists from Leamington and Kingsville were not wearing lifejackets, and the boat had no safety equipment on board, police said.

Essex OPP cautioned that safety equipment is required by law, and boaters should always wear an approved lifejacket or personal flotation device while on board a vessel.

Sutton echoed that advice, adding that he’s witnessed plenty of boating accidents on the island.

“It doesn’t always have a happy ending,” he said. “Over the years, we’ve seen a lot of people brought in with body bags waiting for them.”