Robert A. Koerner died helping attempt to rescue Michael J. Wollmann from drowning, South Bound Brook, New Jersey, April 12, 1996. Wollmann, 35, was kayaking on the Raritan River while his friends Koerner, 41, programmer- analyst, and another man were in a canoe ahead of him. Koerner and the other man took their canoe over a submerged, low-head dam, then through the boil at the base of the dam and continued downstream. Wollmann went over the dam in his kayak but spilled into the boil, from which he could not extract himself. He yelled for help. Koerner and the other man paddled back to the dam, approaching it bow first. Wollmann grasped the bow of their canoe and held to it as Koerner and the other man then attempted to paddle away from the dam. The canoe capsized, throwing Koerner and the other man into the boil. All three men were then caught in the turbulent water, but Wollmann and the other man were washed downstream, to points from which they exited the river safely. Both required hospital treatment. Koerner was not recovered.
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