A Richmond man who was pulled from Lake Champlain Monday afternoon after he fell through the ice on an ATV several hundred feet from shore has died, according to police.
Donald P. “Jonesy” Jones, 82, died Monday evening at Northwestern Medical Center in St. Albans, police said in a press release Monday night.
Authorities responded to a report of a man falling through the ice around 2:15 p.m. near the intersection of Church and Hance roads in Swanton, Vermont State Police said Monday afternoon.
Jones was brought to shore about 30 minutes after the emergency call was made. He was taken to Northwestern Medical Center in St. Albans with life-threatening injuries, police said earlier.
Jones’ death is not considered suspicious, according to police, but a state trooper is investigating his death, as is typical in such cases. The Chief Medical Examiner’s Office in Burlington is set to perform an autopsy to determine the cause and manner of death.
The Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department has warned of unsafe ice conditions since early February, when three fishermen died after falling through the ice in the span of a few days. Among them were two brothers, who died on Feb. 11 after their side-by-side utility task vehicle fell through thin ice.
Fish & Wildlife Commissioner Christopher Herrick instructed recreators to “stay off Lake Champlain” in a February press release, warning that warm weather meant unsafe ice conditions.