Sheriff: Northern Minnesota Man Drowns Trying To Save Dog

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – Authorities in northern Minnesota say a 56-year-old man drowned Saturday while trying to save his dog in a watered-filled mining pit.

Gary Paternoster, of Buhl, died shortly after 6 p.m. after he was recovered from the Buhl pit, the St. Louis County Sheriff's Office said.

While Paternoster still had a pulse when he was pulled from the water, he was pronounced dead at a Hibbing hospital not long after.

The sheriff's office says Paternoster entered the pit at the end of State Street in an attempt to rescue his dog, who'd been caught on something in the water.

Paternoster's death is under investigation.