Police: Water skier appears to have died of a heart attack

SILVER LAKE — A 69-year-old Mears man who was water skiing on Silver Lake early Tuesday morning, July 21, appears to have died of a heart attack, according to Lt. Craig Mast of the Oceana County Sheriff’s Office.

Richard Tompkins was pronounced dead at the scene at approximately 7:30 a.m., Mast said. Tompkins was water skiing with another man who attempted to give him CPR on the boat after pulling him from the water, Mast said. “He had been water skiing and was released from the boat, and when the boat came back around, he was unresponsive,” Mast said.

Troopers from the Hart post of the Michigan State Police and DNR officers from the Silver Lake State Park assisted at the scene. No other information was immediately available.