Sheriff: Man Dies In St. Louis County Boating Accident, Operator Arrested

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – A 66-year-old Illinois man died Wednesday in a northern Minnesota boating accident that likely involved alcohol, according to the St. Louis County Sheriff's Office.

Authorities responded just before 5 p.m. to a report of a water emergency on Lake Kabetogama in Voyageur National Park. When officers arrived, a male had fallen out of a boat and was unconscious in the water. The boat operator and a passer-by were able to pull the man back into the boat and get him to shore.

First responders got to the scene to administer life-saving efforts, but the man was pronounced dead. The victim was identified as 66-year-old Wlodzimierz Dziechciowski of Chicago, Ill.

Authorities say the victim and another boater, identified as Stanislaw Kozaczka of Harwood Heights, Ill., were boating on the lake when Kozaczka said they hit another boat's wake. Dziechciowski fell overboard.

Kozaczka was arrested for criminal vehicular operation involving alcohol and was booked into the St. Louis County Jail pending formal charges. The incident remains under investigation by the St. Louis County Sheriff's Office.