Man died of drowning
while rafting the Animas River, autopsy confirms
Police records,
eyewitness accounts shed light on incident
By Jonathan Romeo Durango
Herald
Wednesday, June 10, 2020
A 61-year-old man who
died while rafting on the Animas River last weekend died as a result of
drowning, the La Plata County coroner determined after an autopsy Wednesday
morning. Patrick Southworth of Ballston Lake, New York, is believed to have
inhaled water after the shock of hitting the cold waters of the Animas River at
the Durango Whitewater Park around 10 a.m. Saturday. Coroner Jann Smith said
she believes the combination of shock and inhaling water resulted in Southworth
dying relatively soon after entering the river, explaining why he was seen
unconscious moments after he fell out of the raft. Despite attempts to revive
Southworth, he was pronounced dead at Mercy Regional Medical Center.
According to
Southworth’s son-in-law, Matt Malinoski, Southworth and his wife, Patti, had
started working this winter on the Navajo Nation in New Mexico as pharmacists
at a local hospital. Malinoski said the couple came to Durango for the weekend
and planned to go horseback riding and rafting, activities they enjoyed during
a similar trip last year in Durango. And like the year before, Southworth and
his wife booked a commercial trip on the Animas River’s run through Durango
guided by Mountain Waters Rafting, which has been running trips since 1981.
James Wilkes, co-owner
of Mountain Waters Rafting since 2011, was at the Durango Whitewater Park at
the time of the incident, he said, and saw the events unfold firsthand. The
Southworths were on a raft with another couple and a guide, and the group made it
through the upper section of rapids, known as the entrance to the Whitewater
Park, without incident.
But at Smelter Rapid,
one of the biggest features in the park, the raft listed, causing the
Southworths to lose their grip, fall and knock the other couple out. This, in
turn, caused the boat to turn at an angle that caused the guide to fall out. “It
was like a domino effect,” Wilkes said.
In the water, the group
of five people stuck relatively close together, Wilkes said. The other couple
was able to self-rescue and swim to the bank on the right side of the river. The
guide, noticing that Patti Southworth was struggling, swam to her and helped
her get to the east side of the river. Wilkes said he spotted Patrick
Southworth immediately after the group fell out and could tell something was
wrong and called 911. “He never reacted as a swimmer to help himself,” Wilkes
said. “He never made a move. That’s why I knew something was wrong.”
Wilkes ran to his car
parked at Santa Rita Park and drove to the U.S. Highway 160/550 bridge just a
few hundred yards downstream of the Whitewater Park where he then scrambled
down to the river. Wilkes said he saw Southworth’s unresponsive body floating
downstream. He took off his clothes, got about 15 feet into the river and was
able to get a hold of Southworth just past the nearby pedestrian footbridge. At
the same time, the guide raced down the Animas River Trail to where Wilkes was
with Southworth. As the two got Southworth to shore, officers arrived on scene
and started CPR, even using an automated external defibrillator.
With the river running
at 2,700 cubic feet per second, and given the section of river the group swam,
Wilkes said there were no particular rapids where Southworth could have become
stuck under the surface in recirculating water. And Smith said she found no
secondary causes of death common with people who die in rafting accidents, such
as a heart attack from the shock of hitting cold water or any injuries to the
head.That’s what led Smith to believe Southworth inhaled water at the shock of
hitting the water, causing him to drown moments after falling into the river.
Wilkes agreed that could explain why he wasn’t seen trying to self-rescue.
Mountain Waters Rafting
took two days off after the incident and is offering counseling to staff.
Always looking to learn from tragedy, Wilkes said in this instance, every
protocol was followed and every safety precaution was taken. Southworth was wearing a personal flotation
device. The raft didn’t flip – it was momentarily turned in a big rapid, and
the Southworths’ lost their grip. And after the group was in the water, the
guide followed a textbook rescue, which Wilkes said likely saved Patti
Southworth’s life.
Eyewitness reports and
police incident reports contradict details shared for an earlier story. Durango
Police Cmdr. Ray Shupe said no charges are expected as a result of the
incident. Police records of the incident obtained by The Durango Herald
corroborate many of the details in Wilkes’ account. “There’s no would of, could
of, should of,” Wilkes said. “The only realistic way to have avoided this was
to stay home and not do anything. It’s just a really sad accident, and there’s
no one to blame.”
Rafting deaths on
commercial trips on the Animas River’s run through Durango are rare. A database
of river accidents kept by American Whitewater shows zero deaths on commercial
trips in that section. According to Herald archives, however, a 56-year-old man
died on a commercial trip in 2015 after a raft flipped at Smelter Rapid when
the Animas was running around 4,000 cfs.
Patti Southworth, 60,
was taken to Mercy for injuries but was released the next day, Malinoski said.
Southworth’s two daughters have traveled to the area to be with their mother,
he said, and bring Southworth back east.“They’re having a rough time,”
Malinoski said. “He was a very fun, outgoing guy. He just enjoyed anything
outdoors and traveling.”
According to his
obituary, Patrick Southworth was born in Troy, New York, and graduated from the
Albany College of Pharmacy in 1983. He met Patti in pharmacy school their
freshman year, and they married in 1981. In recent years, the couple were
working as pharmacists for the Indian Health Service, helping vulnerable
populations on the Navajo Nation, the Zuni Nation and the Chippewa Nation, to
name a few.
On Monday, Patti
Southworth and her two daughters went to the spot where Southworth was
recovered from the Animas River and placed a memorial. They invited Wilkes, as
well as the guide of the raft that day.“They’re really great people,” Wilkes
said. “I’m so sad for her. It’s a tragic and sad thing that’s happened.”
