Community Corner

Update: Body of Missing Chattahoochee Boater Identified

The man was fishing with a friend and not wearing a life vest when he fell in the river.

Update, 3:30 p.m.

The man who fell from his fishing boat Thursday morning was identified as Thomas Marvin Luckett of Dunwoody. He was 69 years old.

Melissa Cummings, with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Communications office confirmed the man's identity. She said this was the first boating fatality on the Chattahoochee River this year.

Luckett and a friend, who has not yet been identified, had launched a 12-foot john boat equipped with a 9.9 hp motor at the Medlock Bridge National Park sometime Thursday morning. Gwinnett County's Fire and Rescue Department were called shortly after 11 a.m. that a man had fallen into the river. His body was recovered around 1:30 p.m. near Jones Bridge Park.

The following agencies were involved in the search:

- Gwinnett Fire Swift Water Team
- Johns Creek Fire Swift Water Team
- Roswell Fire Swift Water Team
- U.S. Park Service Rangers
- Gwinnett Police Aviation Unit

Update, 2 p.m.


Gwinnett Fire spokesman Capt. Tommy Rutledge confirmed that the body of the missing boater on the Chattahoochee River has been found.

The man, believed to be in his 60s, drowned after falling out of his fishing boat sometime around noon Thursday, Aug. 29. His body was found near the old Jones Bridge structure around 1:30 p.m., Rutledge said.

Rutledge said the man was fishing with a friend in a 12-foot john boat when the incident occurred.

He said the scene has been turned over to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, which is treating the incident as a fatality boating accident.

Check back for updates

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11:30 a.m.

Gwinnett's Swift Water Rescue Team and police helicopters are searching for a man who apparently fell into the water after the boat he was riding in hit a submerged object.

Capt. Tommy Rutledge said his friend on the boat turned around after hitting the object and saw that his friend was missing.

Rutledge said search efforts are between Medlock Bridge and Jones Bridge, an area below the Buford Dam and Lake Lanier.

The man reportedly cannot swim and was not wearing a life vest when he fell into the water. Rutledge said crews are searching in swift water that was flowing 8 to 11 miles per hour. With the water temperature around 57 degrees, there is added concern about hyperthermia.

The incident occurred sometime before 11 a.m. Johns Creek Police are assisting with the rescue.

Check back with Patch for updates


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