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Teenage girl in critical condition after drowning at dam near Springfield greenway




Brent DyerRobertson Co. EMS

Brent DyerRobertson Co. EMS

A 17-year-old remains in critical condition after drowning under a hydronic dam at a creek near the Robertson County Fairgrounds last Sunday.

The incident occurred shortly before 1:41 pm when emergency dispatch first received a phone call alerting them of the situation. According to Robertson County EMS Director Brent Dyer, two teenage girls, one 17 and the other 16, were attempting to retrieve a soccer ball from the water. The 17-year-old fell in and got caught under the dam, eventually losing consciousness. The 16-year-old went in and held onto her friend but was unable to pull her out.

“The poor girl fell in the water and the undercurrent just turned her over and over,” Dyer said. “It kept pulling her under so her friend jumped in to try to help her out, but the friend got stuck too. One of the firefighters that helped get her out said that the rocks under the water were so slick and you just couldn’t get your footing.”

Fortunately, a couple who happened to be walking their dog on the Springfield greenway near the dam and spotted the two girls struggling in the water.

As the husband made the call to 911, the wife took the dog’s leash and threw it out to the 16-year-old to help pull them closer to the shore.

Shortly thereafter, an off-duty police officer was driving by and noticed the situation. He helped assist the EMS crew and Springfield Fire Department, which by this time had arrived on the scene and were able to pull the girls from the water. Law enforcement was also able to contact the girls’ families shortly after the accident.

Officials said the force of the water was powerful, but it is unclear how long the two were in the creek. They were hopeful that the cold water helped induce therapeutic hypothermia, which is known to preserve brain tissue in post-cardiac arrest patients.

“When we got both of them out of the water, the 16-year-old female, while okay, was a little bit hypothermic from being in the water and it being 47 degrees outside, but the unconscious female didn’t have a pulse. She wasn’t breathing, so the fire department and EMS crew initiated CPR,” said Michelle Morris, Critical Care paramedic at Robertson County EMS.

Morris drove the 16-year-old in an ambulance to TriStar NorthCrest Medical Center, while the 17-year-old was eventually flown to Centennial Children’s Hospital in Nashville after being revived with advanced cardiac life support and intubation. Even though she is showing signs of recovery, Morris notes how lucky she is to be alive.

“She’s very blessed to have a friend that jumped in just to save her. She risked her own life. We’re very shocked that there weren’t two drownings, to be honest with you. The only thing I can say is that she’s blessed because she had no heartbeat or wasn’t breathing at all when we arrived.”

According to Dyer, the latest update they’ve received since Monday was that the girl remains at Centennial in critical condition on a ventilator.

“From the report we got yesterday it sounds as though she’ll still have a very long road ahead and will continue to need all the prayers that she can get.”

Although the area by the creek is part of the greenway that connects Garner Street Park and J. Travis Price Park, Dyer also noted that several residents say similar drowning accidents have occurred there in previous years. However, he stated that there is currently no fencing or caution signs near the dam to warn visitors.

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