One of three boaters who tumbled into raging waters last night near a dam on the Wapsipinicon River has been charged. All three boaters survived after the fishing boat they were in went over the roller dam around 8:30 P.M.
Two of the boaters made it to shore on their own, but 27-year-old Tyler Snobl of Cedar Rapids was caught in the swirling water for an hour before he was rescued. Andrew Palmer, a friend of Snobl’s, was thankful for the rescue crew’s efforts.
“You don’t want to see anyone like that, let alone your best friend,” Palmer says. “He’s doing good now. He was joking on his way to the ambulance.” The Linn County Sheriff’s office says 32-year-old Trenton Holub, of Central City, is charged with boating while intoxicated. The men had been fishing up-river but got too close to the dam and were caught in the current.
Rescuers were able to get a life jacket and a rope to Snobl so they could drag him away from the churning water. None of the three had been wearing life jackets before the incident.
By Mark Geary, KCRG, Cedar Rapids