Man drowns in Montana river trying to save dog

Scott Thompson
Great Falls Tribune

HAMILTON — Authorities say a man drowned while trying to save a dog that was swept away in a river in southwestern Montana.

The Ravalli Republic reports the accident happened Friday afternoon on the Bitterroot River in Hamilton.

Authorities say 57-year-old Jeffrey Dwigans, of Hamilton, was throwing a stick to his dog in a pool behind a diversion dam on the river. He apparently threw it too far, and the dog became caught in the current.

Dwigans and two other people tried to rescue the dog. Hamilton Police Chief Ryan Oster says the two other people made it back to shore, but Dwigans and his dog floated away.

A police officer found the man's body downstream, and Oster says his office received a report of a dead dog floating in the river.