Tragedy Strikes Again at Swimming Pond
Norwich Volunteer Firefighter Drowns in Voluntown Pond
Signs and ropes clearly designate where it is safe to swim at Green Falls Pond in Voluntown, but Friday afternoon it appears a swimmer ignored the warnings and lost his life.
The DEP says Jarrad Dietz, 21, Norwich was swimming in an area marked off with signs that read don't swim. He had to be pulled from the water and flown by helicopter to a Rhode Island hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Dietz was a probationary member of the East Great Plain Fire Department in Norwich, according to a firefighter that answered the station's phone Saturday.
It's only been one year since another accident at the same pond killed a father and son. 45-year-old Thomas Girard and his son Marc drowned after 17-year-old Marc went in to try to help his father who was struggling in the water.
Swimmers say that years ago there used to be a lifeguard on duty, and after three deaths in the last year, it is time again to hire lifeguards to watch the pond.
Posted Saturday, Aug 15, 2009 - 12:10 AM EST
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