The incident took place around 3:20 p.m., Monday, March 9, when the City of Poughkeepsie Police received multiple 911 calls about a male drowning in the river, said Det. Lt. Matt Clark.
Police said on Monday the area of the search was behind the pavilion at the Mid-Hudson Children’s Museum.
Responding officers were told by several people at the scene they had seen a man in the river yelling for help, who then disappeared underwater, Clark said.
The man reportedly swam some 40 to 50 feet away from the shoreline and then began struggling to return.
The City of Poughkeepsie Fire responded with a boat as did the Dutchess County Sheriff’s Department, Ulster County Sheriff’s, Town of Ulster, D.E.C., and the U.S. Coast Guard, along with helicopters, as well as the Town of Ulster Dive Team searched the river without success, Clark said.
The man has been tentatively identified as being from the City of Poughkeepsie by belongings left on the shoreline.
The circumstances around why the male was in the river remain under investigation, Clark said.
Anyone who may have witnessed the incident is asked to call the City of Poughkeepsie Police at 845-451-4000.
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