An angler fishing in the Pamunkey River has lost his life in what looks like a tragic accident. Investigators say his body was recovered with an inflatable life jacket that never inflated.
The Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources (DWR) Conservation Police say they received a report of an empty jon boat going in circles on Thursday, Aug. 7, around 7:20 a.m. A large, multi-agency search was launched, which also included the Coast Guard, Virginia Marine Resources Commission, Virginia State Police, New Kent County Sheriff’s Office, and fire and rescue crews from New Kent County, West Point, and Henrico County. Volunteer aircraft operators from the Metro Richmond Flying Squad also helped.
DWR was able to recover the jon boat from the water, and the angler’s truck, which was parked at Williams Landing. The missing man was identified as 34-year-old Thomas L. Pitts III, from Mechanicsville, Virginia. Pitts’ family reported that he had gone out early that morning to fish for catfish.
The search for Pitts continued all day Thursday and throughout Friday. Around 4:15 p.m. Friday, his body was recovered west of Whitehouse Creek. Police say he was found wearing an inflatable life jacket but it was not deployed. DWR says, “It is not clear at this time if the life jacket malfunctioned or was not manually inflated.”
There are two kinds of inflatable life vests: automatic inflation and manual-only. In this Ask the Captain video with our partners at the Annapolis School of Seamanship, Captain Jodie Knox shows us how to test an inflatable PFD. They do have expiration dates and it’s important to know how yours functions:
Here are some more tips from BoatUS Foundation on wearing and checking an inflatable life jacket. While we may never know why Pitts’ life jacket did not inflate, inspecting yours could make all the difference.
Pitts’ body was taken to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Richmond to determine his cause of death, and DWR says their investigation doesn’t show any foul play at this time.
