Dive for Keys Nearly Kills Mo. Man
Posted on: Wednesday, 2 June 2004, 06:00 CDT
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - A man who nearly drowned when using a garden hose to breathe while he tried to retrieve his keys from a lake will make other attempt - this time with a trained diver - on Thursday.
Michael Hatfield, 54, of Lee's Summit, lost his car keys in Longview Lake on Memorial Day. The Missouri State Water Patrol said he used a garden hose to snorkel 30-feet below the surface, with a 20-pound boat anchor tied to his waist to help him reach the bottom.
The entire incident was caught on home video.
Hatfield went under water once and returned to the surface without the keys. The video shows him searching without goggles in the murky lake water. On a second attempt, the garden hose slipped from his mouth. Hatfield, unable to breath, became disoriented, the water patrol said.
A spotter holding a rope tied to Hatfield pulled him to safety after sensing trouble.
Hatfield was not breathing and was unresponsive for a short time after he surfaced, but eventually he began breathing on his own. The water patrol said he refused medical treatment.
"I'm shaking now, thinking about what could have been," Hatfield told KCTV-TV, adding that some of the keys could not be duplicated.
"Keys can really be replaced," he said. "At the time, I did not think about that. It was really an embarrassment."
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