CLAREMONT — A 65-year-old Claremont man died of an apparent accidental drowning in Lake Champlain on Monday, according to a news release from Vermont State Police.
Carl “Ernie” Harris was swimming to a boat moored a short distance from the dock when he began to have difficulty swimming and went under the water around noon on Monday, police said in the release.
Friends pulled Harris out of the lake near the Shore Acres Inn and Restaurant in North Hero, Vt. He was unresponsive. Though the people with him attempted life-saving measures, Grand Isle Rescue ultimately pronounced him deceased.
Along with the state police and Grand Isle Rescue, an assistant state medical examiner and Grand Isle County State’s Attorney Doug DiSabito responded to the scene. Harris’ body was transported to the Chief Medical Examiner’s Office in Burlington for an autopsy to determine the cause and manner of death.