A man who drowned Monday evening was trying to save a child at Perry Lake, Jefferson County Sheriff Jeff Herrig said Tuesday.

Robert Courter, 28, was attempting to rescue his fiancee’s 3-year-old son and “ended up getting in trouble himself,” Herrig said. After trying to help the child, the Nortonville man was submerged for eight to nine minutes in about six feet of water.

“He went out to help the little boy, and it’s hard to say if he was just exhausted or cramped up or if there were some other problems, or what happened,” Herrig said.

The sheriff had initially said there were reports that the man couldn’t swim, but he learned later in the day that Courter could swim.

Witnesses at the swimming beach pulled Courter from the lake and started cardio-pulmonary resuscitation, Herrig said. Courter was transported to Lawrence Memorial Hospital, but doctors could not revive him.

Herrig said the 3-year-old boy was rescued, but he wasn’t sure by whom.