Body camera video shows missing fisherman’s rescue at Lake Tawakoni
Texas Game Wardens rescue man from Lake Tawakoni
Texas Game Wardens have shared footage of a rescue made at Lake Tawakoni that saved a man's life. FOX 4's Dionne Anglin has more.
LAKE TAWAKONI, Texas - Texas Game Wardens released video of a fisherman’s rescue at Lake Tawakoni. The man spent more than three hours in the water after being thrown from his boat.
Lake Tawakoni boater rescued
Missing boater rescued at Lake Tawakoni | RAW
Texas Game Wardens released body camera video that shows the moment they pulled a man out of Lake Tawakoni. His boat struck a submerged stump during a local fishing tournament and he was ejected. While he can be heard thanking them, they said he's likely alive today because he chose to wear a life jacket.
What we know:
The rescue happened on Saturday morning during a local fishing tournament.
Texas Game Wardens in Rains County said they got a call around 7:15 a.m. about a missing boater, Steven Otto, who had been thrown from his vessel after striking a stump in the lake.
Mutiple search crews scoured the water for several hours before game wardens in one of the boats spotted Otto in the distance with binoculars.
The video shows them pulling up to the tired fisherman.
"We got you. Hang on," the game wardens said. "Just watch it. We got you now."
Otto told the rescuers he was tired because he’d been in the water for almost four hours by that point.
Fisherman thrown from boat rescued safely from Lake Tawakoni after multi-agency search
A fisherman participating in a local tournament on Lake Tawakoni was rescued Saturday morning after spending more than three hours in the water following a boating accident, Texas Game Wardens said.
What they're saying:
FOX 4 spoke to the game wardens who helped to pull Otto to safety.
"When I first saw him, I could tell his head was up. He was alert and waving his arms. Thankfully, this time of year, the water is not too cold. It’s not quite body temperature. You could still get hypothermia this time of year, but it takes much longer. Whereas if this had happened in February, it would’ve been a different story. But thankfully, the water temperature being what it was and him not having too severe of a head injury, he was in pretty good condition," said Texas Game Warden Josh Bonney.
"It was a huge sigh relief because we had already started spending a lot of time out there with a little bit of information about where he was at. We knew the possibility that this could continue on further into the day, especially as the temperatures started to rise and getting hotter out there. It was excitement and relief all at the same time," added Texas Game Warden Dewayne Noble.
Bonney and Noble said they'd been looking for more than two hours when they decided to venture further into the middle of the lake and look there.
Big picture view:
The Texas Game Wardens gave Otto credit for using two pieces of safety equipment that helped to save his life – a life jacket and his boat’s emergency engine cutoff switch.
"Always wear a life jacket and use your engine cutoff switch. They only work if you use them," the agency said on social media.
Dig deeper:
Lake Tawakoni is about an hour east of Dallas.
Otto is from Royse City in Rockwall County.
The Source: The information in this story comes from a news release from the Texas Game Wardens.