Man Wades Out to Columbia River Island, Gets Stranded

Benton County Deputies had an unusual call Thursday night, a man stranded...on an island.

   The man had apparently gone on an adventure

Around 9 PM, Deputies were called to a disturbance in Leslie Groves Park in North Richland, as reports indicated a man was yelling loudly and acting distraught.

When Deputies arrived, they heard another man yelling from Nelson Island, which is offshore and across from Leslie Groves, about a third of the way across the river.

The distraught man told Deputies his friend had waded across the water to the island, but was afraid to wade back due to what he claimed were rising water levels.  The person in the park was taken to Kadlec Medical Center for unknown reasons.

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A BCSO drone confirmed someone was indeed on the island. Columbia Basin Dive Rescue helped get the man back ashore, he said he'd gone over earlier when it was apparently still light out, but afraid to come back in the dark.

Deputies said the man on the island was in obvious distress and was evaluated by Richland EMTs. No other information was released.