By Amy Nelson
anelson@newsroom.byu.edu
A young man drowned, June 7, in Payson Lake as he attempted to swim across the cold water with some friends.
Blake Martin Smith, 18, from Orem, began swimming across the 200-foot-wide lake around 8 p.m., but after going about 65 feet he began to struggle and disappeared under the water, said Utah County Sheriff's Detective Darin Durfey. Durfey said three of Smith's friends, who had reached the other side, saw him go under and resurface asking for help, but they said Smith didn't call out very loud.
Witnesses on shore saw Smith go under water around 8:20 p.m., and some of them went into the water to try to rescue him, Durfey said. A young lady drove away from the lake so she could call for help on her cell phone, and her call reached dispatch at 8:41 p.m.
By the time Utah County Search and Rescue team members arrived almost an hour later, witnesses had given up searching for Smith fearing their own safety being in the cold water, Durfey said. However, the witnesses did try to keep an eye on the spot where they saw Smith go under, and were able to help the rescue team find him, Durfey said.
Rescue team members located Smith 65 feet from shore and 11 feet down. They pulled Smith's body out of the water about 11:30 p.m., declaring him dead on the scene, Durfey said. Durfey said investigations are still continuing, including an autopsy, but by all indications it was an accidental drowning.
Two of Smith's friends, who had reached the other side of the lake and swum back to the pier where they had all dived from earlier, didn't even know what happened, Durfey said. The other three who were standing in the shallow water on the other side saw Smith go under, but they thought he was just playing a joke.
Smith's friends knew him as a prankster, Durfey said, so they didn't get worried until after he was under the water for a few minutes.