CALISTOGA — Authorities have identified the man who drowned Wednesday morning in a canoe accident at a private lake near Calistoga.
The victim was Lamerle Johnson, a 45-year-old Oakland resident, the Sonoma County Sheriff's Office announced. Shortly before 7:30 a.m. Johnson, who had traveled to the area to attend a leadership retreat, was alone in the canoe and was not wearing a life jacket when the vessel tipped over and dumped him into the cold waters of the lake near the 4000 block of Mountain Home Ranch Road, the department said in a press release.
Two people, one in another canoe and the other on shore, jumped into the lake in an attempt to save Johnson, but were unable to get him out of the murky water before he slipped below the surface, the sheriff's office reported.
The witnesses called the department, which summoned sheriff's dive team, according to the Sheriff's Office. Before the divers arrived, Johnson's body was found and brought to the shoreline. He was pronounced dead at that time.