Man Pulled From Murphy Park Pond

Springdale firefighters prepare to lift a man Thursday to a gurney to put him into an ambulance at Murphy Park in Springdale. At 8:40 a.m. Springdale Parks and Recreation workers saw the man, who was fishing at the Murphy Park lake, fall forward into the water. The workers pulled him out and started CPR until firefighters arrived. He was taken to Northwest Medical Center-Springdale.
Springdale firefighters prepare to lift a man Thursday to a gurney to put him into an ambulance at Murphy Park in Springdale. At 8:40 a.m. Springdale Parks and Recreation workers saw the man, who was fishing at the Murphy Park lake, fall forward into the water. The workers pulled him out and started CPR until firefighters arrived. He was taken to Northwest Medical Center-Springdale.

SPRINGDALE — A man died Thursday after being pulled from the pond at Murphy Park.

Two Parks and Recreation Department employees found Jasper Lee Zornes, 62, of 707 James Ave. in Springdale in the pond at 8:40 a.m., said Chad Wolf, operations manager for the department. Jay Przyszczykowski, a parks maintenance employee, began cardiopulmonary resuscitation on him, said Rick McWhorter, director of the department.

Zornes had fallen face first into the water while he was fishing, Wolf said. He coughed up water when he was pulled out, he said.

Zornes may have had a heart attack before falling into the water, according to a news release from the Police Department.

He was taken to Northwest Medical Center-Springdale, Wolf said. He died at the hospital about 10:55 a.m., said Capt. Mike Peters of the Springdale Police Department.

Zornes was a regular at the park and fished often at the lake, Wolf said.

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