Man drowns at City Dock after possible fight

By KATIE THISDELL

A 43-year-old man drowned Tuesday afternoon in the Rappahannock River at City Dock.

Rescue crews found the man under water near the steep ledge commonly used for fishing. A second man was also in the water, said spokeswoman Natatia Bledsoe.

When the call came in, witnesses said a man who appeared to be intoxicated was stumbling around and attempting to drive away on a scooter.

When a police officer arrived to the area, the man was not visible on land or under the water, but the second man was hanging onto a wall with his head above the water, Bledsoe said. The top of the wall is about 10 feet above the surface of the river.

Rescue crews from the city and Stafford were called. A boat was put in the water, and the second man was pulled out. Divers and other rescuers found the body of the first man and brought him out of the water. They immediately began CPR and he was transported to Mary Washington Hospital, where he was declared dead, Bledsoe said.

Police were interviewing a number of people this afternoon at City Dock, after hearing reports of some kind of fight or disturbance before the two men were found.

‘We’re not quite sure what happened prior to our victim going into the water,” Bledsoe said.

The water was about 8-feet deep at that point, police said.

“Anywhere else he had gone in, he could have walked ashore,” said Tommy Pearson, captain of the cruise boat at the dock. He wasn’t at the river when the drowning occurred, but says he remembers only one other drowning in that part of the river from years ago.

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