Recordpub.com - Akron man drowns in Berlin Reservoir 20-year-old was swimming in Deerfield

Home | Back

Akron man drowns in Berlin Reservoir 20-year-old was swimming in Deerfield

Email To A Friend
Printer Friendly
Comments

Nick Poorbaugh

July 21, 2008

By Nick Poorbaugh
The (Alliance) Review
DEERFIELD " A morning swim quickly turned to tragedy when a 20-year-old Akron man drowned Sunday at Berlin Reservoir.
Portage County Sheriff Duane Kaley identified the victim as 20-year-old Matthew Shiplitt of Akron. Deerfield is about 15 miles southeast of Ravenna.
According to Kaley and members of the Portage County Water Rescue Team (PCWRT), Shiplitt had been swimming with friends at Philabaun's Hidden Cove Resort at 1115 Edgewater Blvd. when he began struggling and disappeared into the water. Edgewater Boulevard is located across from the Deerfield Cemetery in the southeast portion of the township.
Authorities said the first emergency call came around 10 a.m. to the Deerfield Fire Department and the water rescue team had divers in the water within an hour. Despite the speed of response, efforts to locate Shiplitt were unsuccessful.
Deerfield Fire Capt. Brian Allison said Shiplitt was swimming on the western shore of the reservoir near the campground at Philabaun's Hidden Cove Resort when he disappeared below the surface.
"They were trying to swim across the little cove that was there," Allison said. "And they noticed he was lagging behind. They tried to go back and help him and he went under."
Divers located and recovered Shiplitt's body several hours later.
"(The search) was one of the best efforts the Portage County rescue team has put together," said Lt. Dave Moore, a Kent firefighter and commander of the PCWRT. "Considering the location and remote access to the campground, we responded quickly. We got there within the "golden hour' but we couldn't find him."
Ultimately all seven departments that make up the PCWRT "Aurora, Kent, Mantua-Shalersville, Streetsboro, Suffield and the Ravenna Township fire departments and the Portage County Sheriff's Office "responded to the scene. Also responding were the Deerfield Fire Department, Berlin Township Fire Department, Mahoning County Sheriff's Office, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources and the Summit County Dive Team.
"This was a very involved operation," said Moore. "We have had 11 calls so far this year and none as remote as this. Many people don't realize how many bodies of water we have in the county. A lot of training goes on to be able to handle situations like this."
Kaley said Shiplitt's body was taken to the Summit County Medical Examiner's Office, where an autopsy will be conducted to determine the cause of death.
Record-Courier staff writers Marci Piltz and Matt Fredmonsky contributed to this report.

Comments

By Posting to this site, you agree to our Terms of Service Be polite. Inappropriate posts may be removed. Recordpub.com doesn't necessarily condone the comments here, nor does it review every post.

8.	Posted by GoBucks July 23, 2008
	I have all the respect in the world for the rescue team, but I question the integrity of the Record Courier when they publish a photo that is supposed to, in other words, summarizing the article. As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words; and quite frankly, I would not want that picture to be associated with such a tragic incident. If anything, a picture of the young man who lost his life would have been a respectful tribute to a life lost much too early.

7.	Posted by ChristineG July 23, 2008
	If the rescue team did not care about people they would not risk their lives to do what they do. However, if they let every bad ending consume them they would not be able to move on. This may not have been the right photo for the RC to publish but please don't make it about the rescue team....let's remember these are the same people that will come and risk their lives to save our family in a fire! They do it because they care!

6.	Posted by ElizabethH July 23, 2008
	PCPS...I know how hard these rescue teams work and serve our County. I have alot of respect for all of them. I am sure they did a good job...I am sure the divers were talking about something other than the young man...the reporter should have looked closer at what they were going to print. The family has seen this photo. And I'm not the only one who made a comment on it in Summit County. At my work place this reporter is being talked about and how sad we all feel for Matthew's family. And it would have been nice if the reporter would have not "rushed" to make his deadline but would have showed respect.And looked at what he was printing. Just took a little time would have made a huge difference.

5.	Posted by PCPS July 22, 2008
	Unfortunately photographers / reporters sometimes do not think when they send a photo in with their stories, they are looking to get the story in before the days deadline and don't look at the possible impact that a simple photo may have. The fire fighters shown in the picture related to this article are the members of the Summit County dive team that were called by the Portage county water rescue team for extra divers and their underwater sonar unit. Once the victim was found by the PCWRT the Summit county team was relased to return to their county, that is when this picture was taken. It does take many hours of training and a special person to perform the skills of a rescue diver. The PCWRT requires its divers to go through weeks of initial training and its support members have a 8 hour initial class, the team also has training every month and prides itself on being one of the most trained and professional water rescue teams in the state. Funding is another issue, the PCWRT is one of three county teams, the others being haz mat and urban search and rescue. The dive team is the only county team that gets no funding from the county unlike the other two. The water rescue team is the most active team in our county and has responded to 11 calls already this year as the other two teams have responded to a combined 2 calls. Equipment for this type of rescue is very expensive and with the team not having any funding from the County, EMA or Homeland security it relies soley on funding from the individual departments that have members on the team. Because of this reason they have to rely on SERT (Brecksville FD) or Summit County to bring a sonar unit on drawn out operations to look for victims and help their families find closure. Often times Water rescue teams rely heavily on witnesses to correctly report the last seen location of the victim, friend or family member before they went under the water so they know where to send a diver in the water to start a search pattern. Many times these locations are not all together accurate and can be off by many feet as was the case at Geauga lake and Berlin. This only makes the operation last longer as there is more area to search. I hope this information helps.

4.	Posted by Gary July 22, 2008
	The Record Courier has no taste or they would have never printed the picture with the men laughing.

3.	Posted by ElizabethH July 22, 2008
	I am looking at the picture of the rescue team coming up from finding the young man who drowned. Could they show a little more respect? There laughing and looking like there having a good time...the family is devastated...I am sure the photographer could have not submitted that photo! Just my opinion. And my prayers go out to the family.

2.	Posted by GoBucks July 21, 2008
	My thoughts and prayers are most definately with this family during this tragic time. I am quite disheartened by the picture the Record Pub has decided to use with this article. As tragic as this incident was, why post a picture with PCWRT smiling???

1.	Posted by mrm4814 July 21, 2008
	Prayers certainly go out to the family. There is certainly a need for more training and equipment. I remember two years ago the Geauga Lake guy was underwater for two days until the SERT guys showed up. The found him in less than an hour.