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Authorities have identified a Wichita man killed Saturday in a kite boarding accident at Cheney Reservoir.
Bruce Eric Matthews, 42, died around 5:30 p.m. Saturday after he was pulled from the water on the west side of the lake, Kingman County Sheriff Randy Hill said Monday afternoon. Matthews had been kite boarding on the west side of the lake and was knocked unconscious after a gust of wind caught his kite, Cheney State Park ranger Mike Satterlee said Saturday.
Hill said witness reports said the wind had pulled Matthews into the air and “slammed him back into the water hard several times.” Witnesses pulled Matthews from the water and administered CPR until rescue crews from Cheney and Kingman arrived, he said. Paramedics pronounced Matthews dead at the scene.
His exact cause of death is still under investigation, Hill said.
Matthews was camping at the lake with his wife, but she was not present at the time of his accident, Hill said.
The accident happened in an area known as West Toadstool Loop, located in Kingman County. Satterlee told The Eagle on Saturday that kite boarding is common on the east side of the lake, but moves to the west end if the wind is more favorable there.
