photo by Chattanooga Fire Department
A man, 21, drowned Sunday night after falling into the Tennessee River.
Chattanooga Police were dispatched at 9:20 p.m. to a person in the Tennessee River in the 400 Block of Manufacturers Road. When officers arrived, they were told that a man fell off the dock into the water and he did not resurface.
Chattanooga Fire, Hamilton County EMS, TWRA, Hamilton County STARS, and other emergency personnel responded to the scene.
CFD Squad 1 arrived on scene and used bolt cutters to open a gate for access to the property to get to the incident site. Personnel from CFD, CPD, and TWRA immediately established where the man was last seen and began a surface area search of the dock and adjacent river bank.
Dive teams were requested from Dallas Bay VFD and Hamilton County STARS to assist with the search. CFD Fireboat 10 began a surface search from the water and a sub-surface search using side scan sonar. Hamilton County STARS was in charge of dive operations. Fireboat 10 ferried divers to the site from Ross’s Landing. Dive operations later transitioned from search mode to recovery. Hamilton County STARS made several sweeps of the area with their boat using side scan sonar and found several points of interest before making the next dives.
The victim was located at 1:17 a.m. on Monday.
CPD's Homicide Unit responded to investigate this incident. After the preliminary investigation, this incident appears to be an accidental drowning; however this is an on-going investigation.
Chattanooga Police ask anyone with information regarding this incident to call 423-698-2525.