Dedham man drowns in Phillips Lake

DEDHAM – A 66-year-old Dedham man drowned Wednesday evening while swimming in front of his home on Phillips Lake.

Authorities declined to release the name of the victim, pending notification of his family members.

Sgt. Patrick Devlin of the Maine Warden Service said the man dived off the end of the dock in front of his waterfront home on Warren Drive sometime before 6 p.m. For some reason, he didn’t make it to the shore about 70 feet away, Devlin said.

“Right now we are treating this as an accidental drowning,” he said. “There were no boats in the area at the time.”

Lt. Craig Shane of the Dedham-Lucerne Fire Department said the man’s bathing-suit-clad body was found floating facedown in shallow water. Bystanders pulled him from the lake and began administering CPR on the shore.

Fire and rescue personnel arrived at the scene about 10 minutes after receiving the initial call for help and continued CPR for 15 minutes. About a half dozen volunteer members of the fire department responded to the call.

There were no injuries on the man’s body to suggest he hit a submerged rock or struck the bottom of the lake, Devlin said. His cause of death will be determined by the state medical examiner.