A holiday escape turns into tragedy after police
recover the body of a Chicago man who fell into the Rock River. He went
into the river on the Fourth of July while fishing just below the Oregon
dam. That area is considered a very dangerous spot.
"First weekend when we opened here 5 years ago
they had a drowning here too. Same exact circumstances as yesterday,"
says O.K. Welty.
He is the sales manager at Rock River Outfitters which sells bait to many people fishing on the water.
Oregon Police say Reyes Perez, 37, was walking in
the river with waders on. He tried to cross from one island to another
and was pulled under. Rescuers searched for him all day on the Fourth of
July. They didn't find him until Thursday morning.
"Right in front of the dam there is a large hole
that's about 50 feet deep. There is a back flow in that area. And at the
bottom I have been told there is debris down there. It's very dangerous
so once you go in there, particularly if you are wearing waders, the
likelihood of you coming back up is very remote," says Jim Coutts,
Oregon Park District executive director.
Reyes' death is the fourth near the dam since
2007. It's why the Oregon Park District has danger signs posted. Coutts
say his workers also warn people about the danger of going into the
river. But he says because of the number of game fish near the dam it
attracts a lot of out-of-towners that area who may not realize how
danger the area really is.
"Unfortunately people come here and they see that
it is shallow and feel that the entire river is shallow but they are so
unfamiliar with the back-tow and what this dam does to the bottom of the
river that we would definitely encourage everyone to stay out of that
area," says Coutts.
The park district says the safest ways to fish near the dam are in a boat or to stay on the riverbank.
