Hilltowns Archives —The Altamont Enterprise, June 12, 2008
Westerlo man with heart trouble drowns
WESTERLO — Last weekend, a Westerlo man drowned due to heart problems, police say, at the Great Sacandaga Lake in the town of Mayfield.
On Saturday, June 7, Christian Petrocine, 30, of Westerlo was swimming to shore with a 16-year-old after mooring his boat 100 feet off Beacon Island, according to the State Police.
Petrocine began to tire and flailed his arms before going underwater; he was located in about seven feet of water by another boater and brought to shore where cardiopulmonary resuscitation was immediately started, police say.
The Fulton County Ambulance Service took over the CPR, say police, and transported Petrocine to Nathan Littauer Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The autopsy results ruled the death as an accidental drowning due to cardiac arrhythmia due to atherosclerotic coronary artery disease, say police.
State Police have not yet received toxicology tests and will not receive the results for two weeks, said Trooper Maureen Tuffey.
“Alcohol was not believed to have been a factor,” she said.
— Tyler Schuling