ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, September 12, 1996 TAG: 9609130039
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C--2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JON CAWLEY
A Roanoke man died Monday in a kayaking accident in West Virginia.
Michael Scott Hasson, 25, was kayaking on the Meadow River with Joe Beck of Vinton in a "Daggerboat," a thin, acrobatic boat, when the men reached a narrow channel between two rocks, Hasson's stepfather, Don Friedewald, said.
As Hasson, who was leading, went into the channel the boat's front end was sucked down underneath the rocks, pinning him upside down underwater, Friedewald said.
Beck tried for 15 minutes to get Hasson freed, but couldn't. He was able to get to the bank and hike about a mile to a bridge where he flagged down a bus carrying whitewater rafters and used their radio to call for help, Friedewald said.
Rescuers did not locate Hasson for four to five hours because the boat was submerged and Beck couldn't pinpoint the location, Friedewald said. "A ranger said he and a kayaker found Joe, who was still in the boat, bent forward like he was touching his toes, wedged under the boat."
Hasson grew up in Botetourt County and attended Lord Botetourt High School. He graduated from Radford University in 1994 with a degree in marketing.
Friedewald said Hasson had lived near Hico, W.Va., for the last four or five years, working as a professional kayak instructor and videographer filming rafters as they came down the river, but had moved back to Roanoke in January to open up the Appomatox River Company, a canoe and kayak outfitters shop, where he was manager of retail sales.
"Scotty was always a person who everyone who ever met him liked him," Friedewald said. "Everything he did was straight from the heart."
LENGTH: Short : 38 lines KEYWORDS: FATALITYby CNB