Monroe County KOA campground lake drained after drowning incidents

FOX 2 (WJBK) - The closing of the lake at a KOA Campground comes just days after an 18-year-old drowned there.

The father of a near-drowning survivor says he's been waiting for this for two years.

KOA social media and website carried the statement saying, "Effective immediately the swimming lake will be closed permanently."

Dave Snook is the father of a teen who nearly met the same fate.

"It was exciting to hear that," he said. "We were kind of relieved, excited, it’s a good first step."

Excited and relieved, because it is a day that Snook has been fighting for, since June of 2021 when he first got the call about his son.

"He said, 'Is this Andy’s dad,' and I knew automatically something was wrong," Snook said. "And within five minutes we were on 275 driving south."

His then-13-year-old son Andy went swimming at that lake and stayed submerged underwater for 20 minutes.

"Andy needs 24-hour care, probably for the rest of his life," Snook said.

But tragedy at the lake does not end there. Two teens both drowned in those same waters.

In 2022, 15-year-old Jaylen Hill from Detroit died in 2022 and this year, 18-year-old Anthony Shores of Ohio also drowned at the KOA Monroe Toledo campgrounds.

"I wish this had happened right after my son’s accident, that way these two young men would be here with us," Snook said.

The swimming area has not only closed but a view from SKYFox shows fire trucks working to empty the lake.

It is a move that speaks volumes to Snook.

"This is a large body of water and for them to go in with fire trucks and start immediately it’s a big deal," Snook said. "And they finally realized maybe it’s not a good idea to have this available."

He calls it a first step because he is in the middle of a civil suit.

Snook's wife is the caretaker for Andy, and his round-the-clock care is expensive.. They have a GoFundMe page set up but he also wants KOA to be held responsible.

He also wants something else.

"I need to keep their memory alive and keep their memory going, knowing that we fought like this for their memory and legacy."

Snook says he does not want the KOA campground to go out of business but rather put in a pool with lifeguards or expand the campgrounds where the lake used to be.