Michigan State Police are identifying the man who died while kayaking with his wife in the Paw Paw River Sunday evening as 42-year-old Chad Whittington of Coloma. The couple had launched their kayak from Hayes Park in Watervliet and took a break to swim, and that’s when she told police he became distressed and struggled in the water. She got him partially to shore and called 9-1-1, but nothing could be done. First responders were unable to revive Whittington, who was pronounced dead at the scene on the banks of the river in the 71-hundred block of Red Arrow Highway. An autopsy is being done today at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo to determine the cause of death.
