Man drowns in Sunday reservoir swim
Published on June 12th, 2002
STONEHAM, MA - A Sunday evening swim in a local water supply reservoir turns tragic for one local man who could not make the swim back to shore.
According to Fire Department Chief Lawrence Lamey, Lucas Flemmi of Malden and Dinarte Franco of Everett, went for a swim at the High Point Reservoir off Ravine Road. The pair swam out to a pile of rocks protruding from the surface and then began to swim back to the shore. Chief Lamey said that is when Franco ran into trouble.
“He couldn’t make it back on his own and Flemmi tried to help him. When Franco began to pull Flemmi down with him, Flemmi broke free and ran for help,” said Lamey.
Flemmi stopped a vehicle driving down the road and that driver used his cell phone to call 911.
The Stoneham Fire Department divers along with state police divers pulled Franco from the water at around nine o’clock, about 90 minutes after the 911 call for help. Franco age 35, was found in water approximately 15 feet deep and the EMT’s of Action Ambulance immediately began CPR. Franco was taken to the Melrose-Wakefield Hospital where he was pronounced dead shortly after arriving.
The High Point Reservoir is an unsafe and unsupervised water supply that is hard to get to, and Chief Lamey warns would be swimmers to avoid the potential dangers lurking in those waters.
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