(614) 221-3650 or (800) 353-6442
| HOME | ABOUT US | NEWSROOM | RACETRACKS & FAIRS | OHIO PEOPLE & HORSES | LEGISLATIVE | ABOUT HARNESS RACING |
| HOME | ABOUT US | NEWSROOM | RACETRACKS & FAIRS | OHIO PEOPLE & HORSES | LEGISLATIVE | ABOUT HARNESS RACING |
|
||||||||||||
| June 18, 2010 A body recovered from Rattlesnake Creek early Thursday morning was positively identified as 19-year-old Andrew Smith, son of trainer-driver Jeff Smith, the Washington C.H. man who jumped into Monroe Falls on Monday night, Highland County Sheriff Ron Ward said. Smith's body was spotted by members of the Highland County Joint North Fire District around 7:30 a.m. Thursday and was pulled from the water by a dive team from Ross County, Ward said. Following identification by Smith's family, the body was taken to the Montgomery County Morgue for an autopsy. "This morning, firefighters came down to the area to do a morning check and saw what they thought might be a body in the water. We got down closer to the area and determined that it was in fact a body in the water," he said. "We brought in the Ross County dive team because with the body under water, it was somewhat treacherous with underwater currents and obstacles. We went down and made retrieval and recovery of the body at about 10 a.m." A candle light vigil was held on Thursday evening at 7 p.m. at a neighbor of the Smith family. A bank account has been set up at Merchants National Bank for Mary (mother) and Andrew Smith. The finding came just after crews finally called of a concerted recovery effort Wednesday evening around 5 p.m. following three days of search efforts by multiple agencies. The search for Andrew Smith began just after 8 p.m. Monday when five of his friends called 911 after attempting to rescue Smith from Rattlesnake Creek on their own. "Three of four adults who were with Smith jumped into the water," Ward said. "They said he surfaced with his hand on top of his head, went over sideways into the water and they felt he was in distress. Smith went under, resurfaced again and that was the last time he was seen." Ward said it took Smith's friends close to a half an hour to climb down, attempt to rescue Smith, and climb back to the top to call 911. "They had no cell service down under the falls and by the time they could get up and out of there with the very difficult terrain, there was a lapse of about 25 minutes," he said. On Thursday, Ward said that it was a sad end to days of search and recovery efforts that were frequently hampered by rough terrain, stormy weather and high temperatures. "We've come to a resolution. Obviously, we would have wanted a resolution that would have brought him home alive ... but it comes back to this being a very unsafe area," Ward said. "Kids come here and jump off these cliffs, one of which is 83 feet tall, and that just spells disaster. This is an example of how these things can end up in a very bad way. Maybe people will see this and think twice about coming back here." |
|
|
|
| Copyright © 2008-2012 Ohio Harness Horsemen's Association ®. All rights reserved. OHHA, 800 Michigan Ave. Columbus, Ohio 43215-1166. 1-614-221-3650 OR 1-800-353-6442 |
