Grace McAlister
reporter1@riverbendnews.org
On Saturday, Nov. 19, at approximately 2:14 p.m., a man was reported to have drowned in the Suwannee River at the Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park. According to Suwannee County Sheriff Sam St. John, the man – whose identity has not been released – had been swimming and diving in the river until “he dove in the water and did not come back up.” The man had been underwater for five to 10 minutes when patrons began searching for him. He was eventually found and brought to shore, where patrons proceeded to attempt to resuscitate him with CPR while waiting for emergency services to arrive.
The man was transported to HCA Florida Suwannee Emergency, where he remained unresponsive. He was later transferred to UF Shands Hospital in Gainesville and died shortly after. Riverbend News reached out to the Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park for comment, however, at the time of publication they have yet to respond.