Patriots Player Drowns

[USFMikeB]

http://blog.nola.com/times-picayune/2007/05/coast_guard_search_continues_f.html

Authorities recover NFL player's body from Lake Pontchartrain

Posted by From staff reports May 28, 2007 2:40AM

Categories: Breaking News

Authorities pulled the body of former LSU football standout and New England Patriot Marquise Hill from Lake Ponchartrain this afternoon, after he fell off a jet ski near the Seabrook Bridge on Sunday night.

Hill's body was pulled from the lake around 2:15 p.m. He was taken by authorities to the Orleans Parish Coroner's Office.

Around 10 a.m. today, Steve McManus of the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries said officials decided to focus on recovering Hill's body after witnesses saw him go under the water without resurfacing. Authorities were using information from family members to determine Hill's exact location at the time he and a woman fell from the craft, McManus said.

Petty Officer Tom Atkeson said the Coast Guard has crews in a helicopter and boat searching the lake near the Industrial Canal. Wildlife and Fisheries also is participating in the effort with another boat.

A man and woman were reported falling into the water from a recreational craft about 9 p.m. Sunday. They apparently were heading to the Seabrook boat launch. The Orleans Levee Board Police said that a passing boat had briefly picked up the man, but he jumped back in the water to look for the woman.

The woman was rescued after a passerby heard someone calling for help. The woman had apparently grabbed onto a piling or other structure in the lake.

Atkeson said the search for Hill will continue at least as long as daylight hours today.

Hill, a New Orleans native who graduated from De La Salle High School, has played in the NFL since 2004 and was a member of LSU's national championship-winning 2003 Tigers.

[Velcro]

sad story... prayers go out to his family.