CHESTERFIELD – The Northwestern district attorney’s office is investigating an apparent drowning in Damon Pond after the body of a 55-year-old Florence man was recovered there Sunday night.
Emergency crews were called to the scene about 6 p.m. The body of the victim was discovered in water that was some 10 feet deep about 45 minutes after the initial 911 call was made, according to Chesterfield Fire Chief David Hewes.
The man’s name had not been released as of Monday evening.
The man was at the members-only beach off Damon Pond Road with his family. The man’s family told rescuers that the man was swimming to a floating dock in the middle of the pond, about 100 feet from the beach. They feared he may have become stuck beneath the dock, Hewes said.
Crews removed the dock from the water and soon determined that the man had not been trapped underneath. Firefighters searched for about a half hour in a boat until they found the man’s body nearby.
“We found the victim about 50 to 70 feet off the beach in the direct path of the dock,” Hewes said Monday. He “actually never made it out to the dock.”
In a statement released Monday, Mary Carey, spokeswoman for the district attorney’s office, said that no foul play is suspected.
Hewes said that the man had an “extensive medical history” that could have contributed to his death and that the state medical examiner’s office will conduct an autopsy to determine the exact cause of death. He declined to specify the details of the man’s medical history.
Chesterfield police and fire, state police from the Northampton barracks, state police assigned to the DA’s office and firefighters from Williamsburg and Goshen responded to the scene. The state police dive team had also been called before the man’s body was found, Hewes said.
Damon Pond is in a wooded area in the northeast corner of Chesterfield on the Goshen line. A series of cottages and houses sparsely dot the pond’s shoreline.
A man and his toddler daughter were the only people at the beach off Damon Pond Road Monday afternoon. A dock was pushed up on the beach nearby.
As his daughter dug in the sand, the man said that he heard about the drowning and saw emergency vehicles in the area Sunday night. But he said he did not know any other information.
“I don’t know about it and I don’t want to know — I’m just here with my daughter,” said the man, who declined to give his name.
Chris Lindahl can be reached at clindahl@gazettenet.com.