Utah
State law enforcement officers urge life jacket use after 2 weekend water deaths in Utah
WEBER COUNTY — As investigators looked further Sunday into the death of a cliff jumper at Causey Reservoir, state law enforcement officers urged people to wear their life jackets at Causey and on other bodies of water around Utah.
According to Sgt. Trent Currie of the Utah Department of Natural Resources Division of Law Enforcement, the man who died was not wearing a life jacket.
“Unfortunately, he did not resurface,” Currie said during an interview with KSL TV. “It’s a very tragic incident. Our condolences go out to the family. It’s very sad.”
Currie said a DNR Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) team helped recover the man’s body Saturday night from the chilly depths of the reservoir.
With that death and another death at Yuba State Park Reservoir Saturday, law enforcement officers were reminding people about life jackets.
“It’s very important to wear your life jackets,” Currie said. “Life jackets are required here [at Causey Reservoir] for everybody. You have to wear them whether you are swimming, on a kayak, or on a paddleboard.”
Under Utah law, each vessel — even a paddleboard or kayak — is required to have at least one U.S. Coast Guard-approved wearable or inflatable life jacket for each person on board.
Though the rules at Causey Reservoir require all adults and children to wear life jackets out on the water, Currie acknowledged that compliance has been a challenge, with possibly upward of 80 percent of people not wearing their life vests on any given day.
He said people could potentially be cited for not wearing life jackets or having them present in other parts of the state.
“It’s almost like wearing your seatbelt in a car out on the highways,” Currie said. “We would definitely recommend and suggest that you wear those life jackets.”
Kyler Klomp, who occasionally visits Causey with his family, was wearing a life jacket to paddle board on Sunday, but said he had heard why some people choose not to wear them when they go cliff jumping.
“I know some people don’t want to wear their life jackets for that because it kind of hurts when it comes up under the water,” Klomp said. “It’s still important to wear it no matter what.”
He echoed law enforcement’s encouragement of people to wear life jackets for their safety.
“Obviously there is risk when you’re dealing with the water,” Klomp said. “Don’t do anything too crazy, you know.”