OHP Says Witnesses Helped Save Man At Keystone Lake, Two Others Drowned Over Holiday Weekend

KEYSTONE LAKE, Okla. - Two Green Country families are mourning the loss of their loved ones after two separate drowning incidents on Keystone Lake during Memorial Day weekend.

While two people died at Keystone Lake over the weekend, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol said help from strangers saved someone else's life.

It was a busy weekend at Motorcycle Island, a popular spot for four-wheelers and dirt bikes at Appalachia Bay on Keystone Lake.

The OHP said it was packed Sunday night, when an ATV was trying to get on the path by going around the entry gate, then hit a rock, and flipped into the water.

“If you can't fit through that gate, you're not supposed to be there,” OHP Trooper Ricky Humdy said.

OHP said Manuel Gomez from Broken Arrow was driving the ATV and drowned. Trooper Humdy said several witnesses worked to help a passenger by cutting Carlos Olmos free and pulling him out of the water.

"If they hadn't had did what they did, we would be looking at, at least a double. So, they saved that one guy's life,” Humdy said.

Humdy said witnesses also pulled Gomez out of the water and gave him CPR for about a half hour before first responders could get there.

Witnesses told OHP there were two others riding along in the ATV, but troopers said they must have run away, because they did not get a chance to talk to them. Troopers later learned the ATV was stolen.

Another man drowned Saturday night at the Red-Carpet campground.

"There were a lot of people over here. The park was packed. And everybody was here for the weekend,” Zach Moore said.

Moore and his friend Shirley Rivera were in town from Grapevine, Texas and said they watched as first responders showed up to the scene.

"Somebody lost their life. And that's, that's a real tragedy,” Moore said.

Troopers said Carl Harris III from Tulsa drowned while swimming at the cove near the Green Country Boat Ramp. The OHP report said Harris III was not wearing a life jacket.