A Suttons Bay man lost his life after a boating accident on Little Glen Lake Saturday, October 23. The Leelanau County Sheriff’s Office reports that units were dispatched at 12:21pm to the 7900 block of W. Day Forest Road in Glen Arbor for a report of an unoccupied boat that had crashed ashore.

Another 911 call was received from a kayaking fisherman who stated there had been a boating accident and that he was currently assisting a woman who was still in the water. The other boater was unaccounted for.

Responding emergency response units were able to assist the fisherman in rescuing 50-year-old Suttons Bay women from the water. She was later transported to Munson Medical Center for weather related injuries.

Authorities continued searching for the 63-year-old man who was still unaccounted for. Shortly before 6pm, the male boater was recovered from the water. He was identified as Kevin Donovan Herman of Suttons Bay.

It was learned that the couple had been fishing on Little Glen Lake and had somehow lost control of the boat. Both parties were thrown overboard into the water, as the boat continued before crashing ashore. The female was wearing an unsecured PFD and the male was not wearing one at the time of the incident. Speed, alcohol, or mechanical failure are not believed to have been factors in the crash.

The Leelanau County Sheriff’s Office (LCSO) was assisted during the incident by Glen Lake Fire and Rescue; MMR – Mobile Medical Response; Grand Traverse County Sheriff’s Office; Benzie County Sheriff’s Office; Roscommon County Sheriff’s Office; Michigan Department of Natural Resources; National Park Service

UPDATE 10/26 from LCSO: Neither the male or the female were wearing a personnel floatation device when the incident occurred. The female was recovered with an unsecured PFD on but it has been learned that she received it from the assisting kayaker upon his arrival.