Woodstock Police Force officers tried to save a man who was ‘in distress’ after jumping into Meduxnekeag River
A 20-year-old man is dead, and two Woodstock Police officers are recovering from hypothermia after an incident in downtown Woodstock on Thursday, Oct. 19.
Around 11 p.m., officers were responding to an incident near the Community Rose Garden on Broadway Street.
While en route, officers were told the man had left the area and was headed toward Water Street.
According to a Woodstock Police Force news release issued Oct. 20, before the officer’s arrival, the young man, unaware that police had been contacted, entered the Meduxnekeag River.
Two Woodstock Police officers entered the river hoping to rescue the man, who the news release described as ‘in distress.’
The officers successfully brought the man to shore, but the release said that, unfortunately, despite the dedicated life-saving efforts of police, firefighters, and paramedics, they could not revive him.
Following the rescue attempt, the two Woodstock police officers who entered the water were treated for hypothermia at the Upper River Valley Hospital and later released.
