FREAK ACCIDENT

Basketball Coach Drowns After Keys Fall Down Storm Drain

He reportedly died in just 18 inches of water.

The basketball coach of Key West High School drowned after his keys fell into a storm drain. Dexter Butler, a 36-year-old father of two who was also a history teacher at another school, was reaching for the keys when he “lost his balance and fell face first, then drowned in 18 inches of water in the drain,” Monroe County Schools Superintendent Theresa Axford told Keys Weekly. “Really a tragedy on many levels.” Key West Police Department spokeswoman Alyson Crean told the paper: “No foul play is suspected.” Butler was a well-known figure on Key West; his father had coached the high school hoops squad before him and he had been the captain of the baseball and football teams as a student. He often posted about the young athletes on social media, writing last month: “Our season came to an end last Thursday at the hands of Gulliver Prep. I cannot be more proud of the strides these young men made from last offseason to this basketball season. Next season will be something special but with great expectation comes great responsibility.”