Teen Rescued from Crow River in St. Michael

Four young men making their way down the flooded Crow River in St. Michael Monday found themselves at the center of a dramatic rescue when both of their canoes capsized.

The incident happened around 4:45 p.m. Monday, April 11, when one of the men made a call from shore saying there was still one man in the river, and he was clinging to a branch in the water.

Wright County Sheriff’s Department deputies and St. Michael Fire and Rescue responded, finding three of the men in the 2900 block of Lander Avenue, just south of the wastewater treatment plant site and the Rec Fields Park in St. Michael.

The other man, 16-year-old Joshua Lee, was clinging to a tree rooted in the nearby bank, keeping him from floating farther downstream.

“Deputies found all four men in the water, with three coming to shore,” the deputy’s report stated.

St. Michael Fire and Rescue deployed its river rescue team.  

“We responded with our Zodiac [inflatable rescue] boat, but it turned out we didn’t need it,” said St. Michael Fire Chief Steve Hosch. “We were able to tie a rope to another tree, and one of the Wright County deputies shimmied down the bank and tossed the young man a rope, and we brought him in.”

The Crow River has been well above flood stage at Rockford (the nearest gauge) since late March. Monday, at the time of the incident, the river was at 13.65 feet, after cresting on April 6. Water was moving at about 11,000 cf/s, nearly double the normal 6,000 cf/s, according to the National Weather Service’s Advanced Hydrological Prediction Service.

“The simple fact was they should not have been on there,” Hosch said. “The water is still way too high.”

Wright County identified the men as 14-year-old Caleb Lee, Joshua Lee and 18-year-old Nathan Lee, as well as 20-year-old Brian Metzler, all of St. Michael. Allina Ambulance transported Joshua Lee to Buffalo Hospital, where he was treated for hypothermia and released.

All of the men were wearing personal flotation devices (PFD’s) on the water.