Bryan Wilson, 48, of High Ridge drowned Saturday, July 27, in the Meramec River near Hwy. 109 in Eureka, the Missouri State Highway Patrol reported.
Before the drowning, Wilson had been floating on an inner tube in the river with his spouse, Angela Wilson, 50, of High Ridge, who was moderately injured and was taken to SSM Health St. Clare Hospital in Fenton for treatment, the report said.
Eureka Fire Protection District firefighters arrived on the scene at 1:18 p.m., and bystanders already had pulled Bryan Wilson out of the water and were attempting to resuscitate him. Emergency crews took over and administered CPR but were unable to revive him, Deputy Chief William Stamberger said.
“(Wilson) was with his spouse on the water, and he helped her get out (of the Meramec River),” Stamberger said. “He was unable to get back into his inner tube and he encountered some sort of emergency, went under the water, and some bystanders helped pull him out.”
Stamberger said the bystanders were on a float trip that began at Brookdale Farms in the Jefferson County portion of Eureka on the Big River.
He said he wasn’t sure where Bryan and Angela Wilson were floating from, but they most likely began their trip on the Big River.
Bryan Wilson was declared dead at 1:40 p.m., according to the Highway Patrol report, and was taken to the St. Louis Medical Examiner’s Office.
Stamberger said first responders were on the scene for about two and a half hours and had to use a rope pull system to transport the body from the riverbank to a vehicle access point.
“There was a significant effort to move the patient up from the bank of the river to an area where he could be transported,” Stamberger said. “It was about 35 feet of mud and sand through trees and brush to get him up from the riverbank.”
The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office and High Ridge Fire Protection District helped at the scene.