As two camp instructors waded through the lake, one of them fell into a hole and panicked, a sheriff's report says.
By DUANE BOURNE
Published July 30, 2003
Jeff Sharlow
SPRING HILL - Jeff Sharlow and Kim Vogel were headed back to camp when they decided to take a shortcut.
The lake at the Sand Hill Scout Reservation didn't look particularly deep. During the drought of recent years, it had been mostly dry.
But as Sharlow, 16, and Vogel, 43, both summer camp instructors at Sand Hill, waded through the water shortly after 4 p.m. Friday, Sharlow fell into a deep hole, Vogel later told Hernando County sheriff's deputies.
As Sharlow struggled to stay afloat, Vogel grabbed him. But Vogel's waterlogged boots were too heavy, and Sharlow's frantic flailing loosed Vogel's grip.
In a last-ditch attempt to save Sharlow, Vogel turned the teenager over, grabbed the back of his shirt and tried to pull him across the lake.
But Sharlow flipped back over, and Vogel lost his grip. Vogel lost sight of Sharlow in the murky water.
The details of the pair's struggle were included in a report released Tuesday by the Hernando Sheriff's Office. A day earlier, Medical Examiner Dr. Julia Martin ruled that drowning was the cause of the death.
The 27-page report documents how Vogel, of Tarpon Springs, and Sharlow, of St. Petersburg, had been crossing the lake with two other Scouts in waist-deep water when Sharlow stepped into the 20-foot deep hole and panicked.
"There were never any questions raised during our investigation that gave us any cause to think that something had happened differently from the onset," said sheriff's spokesman Lt. Joseph Paez. "The case is closed."
From the opposite end of the lake, several members of the Hernando County Young Marines and other Boy Scouts, hearing Vogel's screams for help, jumped into the water. They thought Sharlow could not swim.
Daniel Wilson, 49, also heard the commotion as he drove near the lake bed. He thought it was a prank. But when he saw the angst on the faces of the Young Marines and Scouts who had dived into the water, he called 911.
Within minutes, personnel from Spring Hill Fire Rescue and Hernando County Fire Rescue arrived. With the help of a helicopter circling overhead, divers began searching the grassy waters of the small lake. Deputies in boats and canoes formed a perimeter around the search area.
The Scouts and Young Marines were ushered to the shore. They had been searching furiously, but deputies feared for their safety.
In fact, about 50 feet out, a Scout had been struggling to tread water when sheriff's Lt. Craig Baxley raced to rescue him.
At 5:30 p.m., the helicopter spotted something in the water about 75 to 100 feet from the shore. Deputy Neil Sutton reached down with an oar. It was Sharlow.
His body was in 8 to 9 feet of water, and Baxley pulled him to shore on a floating backboard.
Sharlow was still wearing his hiking boots, his green and red Boy Scout socks, his shorts and a green Boy Scout camp T-shirt, along with a necklace of wooden beads.
Baxley said he had a tough time at the scene.
"I have been in the business a number of years," he said, "but this leaves a lasting effect."
Scouting officials said Monday they will appoint a task force to investigate Sharlow's drowning and decide whether any changes need to be made in safety procedures.
The 1,200-acre Sand Hill reservation is owned by the Gulf Ridge and West Central Florida councils of Boy Scouts of America and plays host to hundreds of summertime campers each year.
- Duane Bourne covers law enforcement in Hernando County and can be reached at 352 754-6114. Send e-mail to dbourne@sptimes.com
