Officer dies after rescuing son from drowning in frozen lake

(CNN) — The town manager of Carmel, Maine, died after saving his 4-year-old son from drowning in a frozen pond.

Kevin Howell, 51, and his son were crossing a section of Pond Etna around 6:30 a.m. Friday when the ice broke, the Penobscot County Sheriff’s Office said in a social media post.

Howell was able to pull his son out of the icy water and sent him to find his mother at her home, about a quarter-mile from the lake, the sheriff’s office said.

“The child ran home and notified his mother,” the sheriff’s office said. “The mother told the child to stay home, called 911 and ran to help her husband. On the way, he grabbed an anchor and a rope and ran towards the water.

While trying to save her husband, Howell’s wife, Katie, fell through the ice herself and was unable to get out of the water, the sheriff’s office said.

Around that time, Penobscot County Sheriff’s Detective Jordan Norton arrived on the scene and began crawling across the snow to rescue Katie, the sheriff’s office said. He was able to pull her out of the water.

But there was no sign of Howell.

“Detective Norton took the mother home and reunited with her son,” the sheriff’s office said.

Other lifeguards rushed to the scene and a team managed to locate Howell in the water in the afternoon. Divers from the state Department of Fish and Wildlife recovered Howell’s body.

Howell and his wife moved to Carmel, about 50 miles northeast of the state capital, Augusta, in 2014, and their son, Sawyer, was born in 2019, according to the Carmel city website.

According to the website, Howell enjoyed cooking for his family and friends and spending time outdoors with his wife and son, doing activities such as skiing, boating, fishing and hiking.

CNN has reached out to Carmel officials for comment.

With a report from CNN’s Lauren Mascarenhas.