Coroner: Easton man drowned in Green Lane Park
An autopsy this week determined the 46-year-old Easton man pulled dead from the reservoir at Green Lane Park Sunday, Sept. 2, drowned.
Montgomery County Coroner Dr. Walter I. Hofman said Bernard Jaruga’s cause of death was a “freshwater drowning” and ruled it accidental.
-DUuJD’V LGHnWLWy wDV FRnfiUPHG by the state police at Skippack Wednesday morning.
Police at the scene Sunday said there is a steep dropoff shortly after a person leaves the bank in the area where Jaruga’s body was recovered by a Telford Volunteer Diving and Rescue Unit diver.
“Something happened that he ended up in the lake,” Lt. Eric Tuck, of the State Police at Skippack, said Sunday.
Why Jaruga ended up in the lake remains unknown, as well as exactly how long he was in the lake. 7hH FRURnHU’V RIfiFH DnG WhH VWDWH police both declined to speculate or release information on that.
An investigation into the inci- dent is still ongoing, police said.
The state police were dispatched early Sunday morning to investigate a vehicle that remained in the lot overnight.
According to the state police, the man reportedly went missing the night before.
Around 2:40 p.m., police, rescue DnG fiUH FUHwV SuOOHG D PDn’V ERGy out of the water and up a wooded slope in a rescue sled brought by the Red Hill Fire Company. The body was taken to an area near a green canopy that emergency personnel set up as their base of operations.
A person from the Montgomery &RunWy &RURnHU’V 2IfiFH DUULvHG on scene shortly before the man was pulled from the water to pronounce him dead.
The body was reportedly discovered near a steep, wooded bank leading down to the water. The area where it was reportedly found is near a picnic grove off of the park’s parking lot.
The state police headed the scene and were assisted by Green Lane Park Rangers.
Jaruga was recovered wearing jeans and sneakers without waders.
Crews were searching the waters of the reservoir since at least 10:30 Sunday morning.
The Telford Volunteer Diving and Rescue Unit responded and provided divers to locate the man. At one point, at least two boats, including those from Telford’s diving unit and the Park Rangers, were out searching on the water.
Sonar was used at the scene to detect where the body may have been.
It seemed the man’s body was discovered before 2 p.m., as the Telford crew began packing up VRPH RI LWV JHDU DnG WhH fiUHfiJhWers used to help pull the body on the sled up the hill arrived around then.
Fishing gear was recovered on the bank by where Jaruga was found.
A picnic grove full of visitors looking to enjoy the Labor Day weekend stood nearby.
Boat rentals were suspended for the day as crews spent the morning and the early part of the afternoon locating the man’s body.