Mike Unruh Bulldozer Obituary Wichita, KS: Police identify owner of Unruh excavating as victim in fatal Wichita lake accident.
A 52-year-old man whose corpse was found in a lake in north Wichita after a bulldozer fell into the water has been identified by police.
After spending almost an hour underwater, Moundridge resident Mike Unruh’s body was found in the bulldozer. The incident was reported on Tuesday just before 11 a.m. at a construction site close to The Moorings community, which is located south of Meridian and 53rd Street North.
Some visitors were staying at a house north of the scene of the incident, according to Capt. Ronald Hunt of the Wichita Police Department.
“They were out back and happened to see the tractor, or bulldozer, going back and forth,” Capt. Hunt said. It “actually just rolled back and went in the water” at one point.
The witnesses tried to locate the exact spot while driving around and dialing 911. Rescue teams soon followed.
Around noon, divers discovered the bulldozer upside down in the water about 30 to 40 feet from shore, and Unruh was inside the cab, according to Wichita Fire Department Battalion Chief Jose Ocadiz.
Unruh was rescued from the taxi and brought to land, where EMS tried CPR but declared him dead.
Unruh was leveling the sand nearby as a member of a team building on a new neighborhood. The accident’s cause is being looked into.
