1 Dead, 1 Hospitalized After Riverton Canal Rescue

One man died and another was rescued Friday after police officers were called to a canal in Riverton.

Benjamin Ridgley, 63, was dead when Riverton police officers pulled him from the canal. A 56-year-old man, who has not been identified publicly, was taken to a hospital.

Officers responded to the canal bank near 304 Spire Drive shortly after 6 p.m. Friday, Captain Todd Byerly of the Riverton Police Department said in a news release Monday morning. An incident log shows the initial call to police was for a dead body.

The caller reported that two men were laying in the canal, with one laying on top of the other. The man beneath was completely submerged.

Responding officers found the two men trapped against a safety gate and quickly formed a human chain in an effort to rescue them.

After several attempts, both men were pulled from the canal.

Byerly said that preliminary investigation shows the two men had slid into the canal roughly 300 feet from where they were found.

Further details were not immediately available.