CHARLESTOWN, RI — A 25-year-old man drowned Sunday afternoon after a canoe overturned at School House Pond beach on Narragansett Indian Tribal property.
Jordan S. Monroe, of Narragansett, went under the water while trying to swim to shore after the fiberglass canoe he was in capsized about 100 yards offshore, according to Charlestown Police Chief Michael J. Paliotta.
Charlestown Police, Charlestown Rescue Service and Charlestown Fire Department responded to the scene at approximately 1:38 p.m.
A second man in the canoe successfully swam back to shore.
Charlestown Police officers, assisted by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management Environmental Police officers, conducted a water search and located Monroe a considerable distance offshore.
First responders immediately started life-saving measures.
Monroe was transported by ambulance to Westerly Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Neither occupant was wearing a life jacket, nor were any life jackets present in the boat during the incident, according to the preliminary investigation.
The beach is a swim-at-your-own-risk freshwater facility located on Narragansett Indian Tribal lands.
The Charlestown Police Department, Rhode Island DEM and the state medical examiner’s office are jointly investigating the drowning.
