Man dies after fall from Jet Express ramp

PORT CLINTON — A Cleveland man died Sunday despite efforts to save him after he fell into the Portage River while getting off the Jet Express. Matt Gandee, the commander of the Ottawa County Drug Task Force, was working for the sheriff's office with Port Clinton police to provide security for the boat. As the last boat of the night arrived from Put-in-Bay early on Saturday morning, they heard screams. "All of sudden, we heard people yelling that someone had fallen in," Gandee said. While disembarking from the Jet Express, Kevin O'Boyle, 66, fell off the ramp into the water between the boat and the dock. The officers searched the water around the boat for any sight of the man. But it was too dark to see until Gandee heard someone yell they found him near the boat's bow. "They had a flashlight on him," Gandee said. "He was face down in the water. All I could see was his khaki pants." Without hesitation, Gandee gave his gunbelt and vest to a nearby officer and jumped into the water to save O'Boyle. "My only thought was he was face down in the water, and we had to go save him," Gandee said. When he jumped into the river, he realized Dan Yost — a Perkins firefighter and Milan police officer who was working security for the boat — jumped in with him. The two men swam out to O'Boyle and then had to contend with the river's current while carrying him. Their waterlogged equipment weighed them down. "Everyone was yelling at us to come back, but we were getting tired from fighting the current," Gandee said. "I had no idea how strong the current was in the river." Gandee and Yost instead started to swim toward a concrete pillar under the Port Clinton Lift Bridge. Someone threw a life preserver and rope into the water, which Gandee and Yost used to pull themselves to the pillar. Port Clinton Sgt. Nate Edmunds joined Yost and Gandee in the water to lift O'Boyle onto the pillar. They started to give O'Boyle chest compressions on the pillar. "Once we started CPR, we pulled Dan out of the water because of how tired he was from fighting the current," Gandee said. "I'm appreciative of Dan; we needed each other to get him to the pillar." A Port Clinton police boat arrived to take O'Boyle to the dock near Jefferson Street. An ambulance took him to Magruder Hospital. He was flown by medical helicopter to Toledo, where he died Sunday. "Kevin's family and friends have my deepest sympathies," Gandee said. "Despite the tragic outcome, I'm proud of the team effort. Everyone's focus was on saving his life, and we worked our hardest."