Toddler Drowns During Family Outing
Story and Photos By RNW Reporter Hayden Jennings
A child is the latest victim of the Old Furnace on Silver Creek after a swimming accident Sunday Evening.
Police, Fire, and EMS scrambled to the area near Darlington Dr. and US Hwy. 27 South after a witness flagged down traffic on Darlington Dr. at the railroad tracks for help around 6:30pm.
(Photo edited. At left, EMS and firefighters run with the child to a waiting ambulance).
.
.
.
.
A State Probation Officer along with Rome Police were first on the scene and began CPR on the child, now identified as 4 year old Robert Logan Watson as Fire Units arrived.
The situation was complicated when a Floyd Ambulance ran off the makeshift road, blocking the only access in or out. Police made do with what they had and loaded the child into a police cruiser and drove up to waiting units near Coosa Steel.
Agents from all local police entities along with GSP blocked intersections for the ambulance as it made its way up South Broad St. to Floyd Medical Center where he was pronounced dead.
According to police, the child was swimming with his family when the accident occured. The father told police he had turned his back to play with the older child when the boy apparently went under.
The swimming hole where the accident happened is a popular spot in Silver Creek where an old furnace used to be. While the water there is only 3-5 ft. deep, the spot has been the scene of many responses from emergency crews. In the past few years, crews have responded to a severe 4-wheeler wreck and last year, another swimming accident where a man hit his head on rocks while diving.
The only access to the spot is a foot trail and a very narrow and tedious road off Darlington Dr. that goes along the R.R. Tracks.
We will have updates on this story as details are available.
You must be logged in to post a comment.