Accident Database

Report ID# 118326

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Date

Victim

Victim Age

River

Location

Water Level

River Difficulty

Cause Code(s)

PFD Not Worn or Present

Injury Type(s)

Other

Factors

Failed Rescue

Trip Type

Boat Type

Status

Accident Description

Man dies after reportedly jumping in water to help children at Eastwood MetroPark

June 22, 2024

By WHIO TV 7 Staff

DAYTON — A man is dead after trying to save children who were in the water. As reported on News Center 7 at 11, around 6:47 p.m. Dayton firefighters were called to Eastwood MetroPark for reports of a man in the water. Witnesses told firefighters that children were on intertubes near a kayak feature in Mad River when they fell off into the water, according to District Fire Chief Nick Judge.

The victim jumped in to save them but quickly needed help. Another man jumped in the water to try and save him and the children. He was able to save the children but not the victim. After around an hour into a search, divers from the Wright Patterson AFB Fire Department pulled the victim from the water. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

“There’s lots of objects, trees, and things that end up in the river that creates some very chaotic currents and underwater, what we call eddies, kind of circulating motions with water,” he said. That is why swimming is not permitted at Eastwood MetroPark. Firefighters said it is important for people to wear lifejackets whenever they are near or on the water.

The name of the victim has not been released.

News Center 7 will continue to follow this story.

911 calls: Man dies trying to save girl in Mad River at Eastwood; girl survives

The Mad River at Eastwood MetroPark. FILE

Credit: Tim Wolff

By Jen Balduf and Holly Souther

Updated June 22, 2024

First responders pulled a man’s body from the Mad River on Friday evening at Eastwood MetroPark.

The Dayton Fire Department was dispatched to the park around 6:45 p.m. for a person reported in the water, said Brad French, assistant chief.

“As crews arrived, they immediately deployed multiple boats into the water and began searching along the shoreline. After approximately one hour of search efforts, divers from the Wright-Patterson AFB Fire Department located and removed an adult male victim from the water,” French said.

In a 911 call, a woman said “her boyfriend is drowning and went under and hasn’t come back up.” A second 911 caller confirmed they were at Eastwood MetroPark on the river by the first waterfall with rocks nearby.

The first caller said there was a current and it sucked the man under. When asked by the 911 dispatcher how long he had been in the water, the caller said probably at least five minutes.

“He went under trying to save my daughter,” she said.

Additional people tried to help but weren’t able to get him, she said. “We went over to the little waterfall right here and my daughter fell in off the tube,” the first caller said. “He got her and he was trying to get her, he ended up letting go of her and I went and saved my daughter and he went under.”

The man was located at 8:08 p.m. and removed from the recovered from the river at 8:10 p.m., according to dispatch records.

From Amy Dingle: The river is a class 1-2 area with a deep plunge pool from a ww feature that used to be on site to protect a water main pipe encased upstream that failed in the fall of 2022. They were on backyard pool floats (innertube style with a middle). He was with a 7 year old and was able to get them back on their inner tube. No lifejackets. The victim was a 31 y/o male Hispanic. He saved the child but hwen he hit the class one current he did not resurface. Another adult male bystander tried to dove in to get him but it’s about 19’ deep in that location .