Victim was certified scuba diver
A 13-year-old boy from Fulton County, Georgia, lost his life in what is being investigated as a drowning in Blue Ridge Lake Saturday, June 21.
Fannin County Coroner Becky Callihan said Hart Law Allen was pronounced dead after being taken to Blue Ridge Medical Center from the scene off Adra Road in Morganton.
She said last week the state medical examiner is performing an autopsy to determine the cause of death. The findings of that autopsy may take quite some time.
Sergeant Daniel Gray of the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Law Enforcement Division said Corporal Jared Wood was called to the scene at a private boat dock “in reference to a possible drowning” that occurred shortly after 9 p.m.
Initial reports indicate multiple individuals were swimming in approximately 15 to 20 feet of water when the victim was attempting to climb up the ladder to the dock, Gray wrote in an email. The juvenile experienced a medical episode, possibly an electric shock, and fell back into the water.
Another male juvenile swam down in an attempt to retrieve the victim. After several attempts, the victim was recovered and secured on the dock. CPR was then performed.
Callihan said that CPR was in progress when EMS personnel arrived and efforts to revive the juvenile continued to the
hospital.
Gray said the other individuals in the water reported they experienced what they believed to be an electrical current in the water.
An adult female that was also in the water was in stable condition Friday afternoon, June 27, at Kennestone Regional Medical Hospital in Marietta after she experienced complications, Gray wrote.
According to Allen’s obituary on the H.M. Patterson & Son - Oglethorpe Hill Chapel website, Allen had become a certified scuba diver at age 10 and by age 12 had earned his advanced scuba certification in the Dominican Republic.
He had recently earned the Life rank in his Boy Scout troop with 29 merit badges, and planned his Eagle Scout project after ninth grade.
Allen played both water polo and LaCrosse.
Among his survivors are his parents, Russ and Nicole Allen; and his siblings, Adger, Elowyn, and Carys.
A funeral service is planned tomorrow, Thursday, July 3, at the Cathedral of St. Philip in Atlanta.