VANCOUVER, Wash. (AP) — A man who drowned in the Columbia River on Sunday near Vancouver has been identified as a Battle Ground police officer, Michael M. Molzahn.
Authorities say the 41-year-old jumped in the water from a boat and struggled against the current.
The Columbian reports those in the boat could not reach him. He was picked up by a personal watercraft. A Portland fire boat took him to Vancouver’s Steamboat Landing, where efforts to revive him were unsuccessful.
Lt. Roy Butler says Molzahn was hired by the Battle Ground Police Department in March 2000 after serving for at least two years as a reserve officer. He worked as a detective and a motorcycle officer.
He leaves a wife, an 18-year-old son and a 13-year-old daughter.
