A 47-year-old man from Maryland drowned Sunday night in Dade County, Georgia, while on a family vacation for Father’s Day weekend.
On Sunday around 9 p.m., the 14-year-old son of David Roland called police and told them that his father had jumped into Johnsons Lake and had been under water for about 10 minutes.
A deputy arrived at the Preserve at Lookout Mountain resort in Rising Fawn, where the family was staying in rental cabins, about 10 minutes later. According to the incident report from the Dade County Sheriff’s Office, the deputy told Roland’s wife, son and another family member that it was too late to save Roland because he had been under water for too long.
Roland’s wife told deputies that he had made a bet with his son that he could swim all the way across the lake. When he tried, he got tired on his way back and tried to make it back to the cabin docks right on the lake but started to go under before reaching the docks.
Roland’s wife said she tried to throw him a life jacket, but he couldn’t reach it. She then tried getting to him using a kayak but she couldn’t get it unhooked from the dock. That’s when she jumped in the water to rescue him.
The deputy who responded called an investigator, the coroner and a recovery team. Investigator Sgt. Chad Payne arrived at the cabins soon after, and the scene was turned over to him.
Contact Patrick Filbin at pfilbin@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6476. Follow him on Twitter @PatrickFilbin.