‘A cauldron of disaster’: Boaters say swim accident imminent at Lakewood launch

Despite the pandemic, American Lake in Lakewood remains a popular summer destination.

But some visitors say they’re worried about a potentially hazardous situation as a result of people using the boat launch and docks area for swimming.

John Unfred, Lakewood assistant chief of police, said the department is aware of the situation.

“We are concerned about it,” said Unfred, adding that the department patrols the area.

A large sign next to the boat launch area states the rule against swimming, but according to concerned boaters, neither the police nor the sign are effective in deterring young swimmers.

Mary Pubols of University Place had a particularly close call recently. When she was backing toward the water getting ready to launch her boat, she heard her daughter yelling.

“My daughter screamed out, ‘Mom, stop, stop!’ and I stop immediately, thinking I was going to hit the dock or go off the edge,” Pubols told The News Tribune.

That wasn’t the problem. A child had jumped into the water directly behind Pubols. Luckily, she stopped in time.

“Which is just terrifying to me, as a mom,” Pubols said. “And as a human being.”

Minutes later, there was another near-accident.

Pubols said that after she got the boat in the water and went to park her vehicle, her teenage son, who has a boating license, was starting the engine when his friend told him there was a child under the boat’s swim board. Pubol’s son stopped in time for the child to move out of the way.

Pubols said these are not isolated incidents. On warm days, she says she sees children, teenagers and young adults swimming in the boat launch area and jumping off the docks.

She says she has contacted the city of Lakewood to warn it about the situation.

“They’re not doing anything,” she said.

Other boaters also have had issues with swimmers.

“Several times they’ll be fishing and swimming, so we have to just be cognizant,” Alisha Williams, a resident of Lacey, told The News Tribune while waiting in line to launch her boat on Aug. 16. “They move a little, but we have to be careful.”

Hector Garcia of Tacoma said he sometimes sees kids swimming in the water.

“They’ll just jump off, start diving in,” he told The News Tribune on Aug. 16 as he lined up to launch his boat. He said he’s seen police officers ask the kids to move to the designated swimming area, but they return to the docks once the officers have left.

The News Tribune did not observe any swimmers in the boat launch area on Aug. 16, a sunny Sunday with temperatures in the 90s. The News Tribune has reviewed video recordings take by boaters showing swimmers on the docks.

Maria Dorsten of University Place said she’s surprised no one has been injured. She and her family have been launching their boat at American Lake for about eight years, and she said the swimmers began flooding the boat launch after the area was redone about five years ago.

“We’ve pulled in before and had a kid just pop up from underneath the dock,” Dorsten said. “Luckily we were able to stop.”

Dorsten has seen Lakewood police at American Lake, but she said she’s never seen them ask swimmers to leave the docks.

“They just kind of cruise by and keep on going,” she said.

Dorsten said she hasn’t personally called the police because she doesn’t think their presence deters swimmers.

Unfred said the option of erecting a possible physical barrier at the launch is still under review.

“We are doing the best we can with staffing and so on to monitor the situation and working with our parks department to work on physical barriers that might alleviate the problem,” Unfred said.

Shannon Kelley-Fong, senior policy analyst for the City of Lakewood, said there are plans in place to make the park ADA accessible. She says those improvements will include a replacement retaining wall with a new fence, but the plans do not directly address the boat launch swimming issue.

According to Unfred, police don’t patrol the area every day.

“It would be more a proactive thing, where they see it and address it,” Unfred said. “But we have addressed individual instances when officers see it to the point of removing people from the park for violating the rules.”

“Our Marine Services Unit is aware of the issue and will check the dock periodically when they are working the lake,” the department said in a separate statement from Lt. Chris Lawler. “Educating the swimmers on the hazards is the first step and repeat offenders have been asked to leave the park for the day. Boaters can always call our dispatch center to report hazardous or unsafe conditions.”

Unfred says police records show two 911 calls regarding swimmers in the boat launch since June 1 of this year. Unfred says fines are not generally given, because most of the offenders are juveniles who cannot be fined unless their parents are located.

“We would say call 911 if you see circumstances like that going on,” said Kelley-Fong. She said police do “frequent and regular” patrols and that police presence is increased on warm days and weekends.

Pubols is concerned that if the city doesn’t enforce the swimming ban at the boat launch, there will be an accident. She says she hopes action is taken in time.

“It is like a cauldron of disaster,” she said. “It’s just frightening.”