Father dies trying to rescue his toddler from Minnesota lake

DETROIT LAKES, Minn. – Authorities say a father died while trying to save his 3-year-old child who fell from a bridge into a northwestern Minnesota lake.

The Becker County sheriff’s office says Christopher Franklin Nicholas Schultz jumped into Detroit Lake after his child fell from the bridge at Dead Shot Bay on Saturday evening.

The sheriff’s office says in a news release that the 32-year-old father struggled to keep his child above water. Bystanders were able to help bring the toddler to shore, but Schultz, of nearby Frazee, Minnesota, didn’t resurface.

The Becker County Diver Team and a fisherman found the father around 9 p.m. He died at a hospital in the city of Detroit Lakes, about 45 miles (70 kilometres) east of Fargo, North Dakota.

The child was treated for non-life-threatening injuries.