20-year-old drowning victim’s mother receives award in his honor

Click here for updates on this story

    OAKLAND COUNTY, Michigan (WJRT) — The mother of a 20-year-old who drowned while trying to save his coworkers on a northern Oakland County lake received posthumous honors for his actions.

Marsalis Carter worked with a moving crew and they decided to swim off a client’s pontoon boat in Taylor Lake in Rose Township near Holly to cool off on the morning of July 20.

One of Carter’s coworkers jumped in with a pool noodle and started struggling to stay above water, so Carter jumped in and pulled him back to the boat. A second coworker jumped in and also started struggling, so Carter jumped in again to save him.

Carter successfully brought the coworker to the boat and the coworker got on board without suffering any injuries. However, Carter disappeared underwater and never resurfaced.

Witnesses believe Carter became exhausted from carrying out the two rescues. They tried to save him, but he could not be located.

The Oakland County Sheriff’s Office Dive Team and the Southeast Michigan Dive Group searched for more than 13 hours before they located Carter’s body in 35 feet of water about 300 feet from shore.

Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard presented Carter’s mother, Daileen Carter of Clinton Township, with a posthumous Citizen Citation Wednesday for Marsalis Carter’s heroic actions on the lake.

“I wanted to take a moment to recognize the selfless and heroic act of her son, who died saving the life of someone else,” Bouchard said. “While the fact that Marsalis gave his life saving a coworker may not diminish the family’s pain, it may give a measure of solace and meaning to his incredible sacrifice.”

Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.