A Baxter County man drowned in Lake Norfork this afternoon when he fell into the lake from a private boat dock off Baxter CR 857 in the Diamond Bay area.  

     The Sheriff’s Office was notified by the 911 call center at approximately 2:58 PM that a man was in the water after having fallen off a boat dock in the Diamond Bay area.  Sheriff’s deputies and emergency responders from the Hand Cove Volunteer Fire Department, as well as Baxter Regional Medical Center Ambulance Service, Arkansas Game and Fish Wildlife Officers, and U. S. Army Corp of Engineers Park Rangers responded to the location. 

     The victim was identified as Robert Ray Comstock, 43 years old of the Hand Cove area.  He had been in the water for at least 20 minutes, but had been pulled from the water by private persons who live in the area before emergency personnel arrived.   

     Mr. Comstock had been fishing on the dock with his mother.  Mr. Comstock has been an epileptic since he was a child.  According to his mother, Mr. Comstock suffered an epileptic seizure on the dock and fell into the water. 

     Efforts by emergency medical personnel to revive him were not successful, and the Baxter County Coroner’s Office was called to the scene to remove the body.    

/s/ John F. Montgomery,
Baxter County Sheriff