Authorities ID man, 44, recovered from Chattahoochee River in Columbus
Authorities have recovered the body of a man who reportedly jumped from Columbus’ 14th Street Bridge into the Chattahoochee River on Tuesday night.
Muscogee County Coroner Buddy Bryan identified the man as 44-year-old Scott Fuller Jr. of Columbus, who was pronounced dead at 9:40 a.m. Thursday.
Fire Marshal John Shull said a fisherman saw the body about 8:45 a.m. on rocks near the Powerhouse rapid on the river’s whitewater course, near the Georgia shore south of the 13th Street Bridge, close to the rock island where spectators view kayaking competitions.
Columbus Fire and EMS, which searched all day for the man on Wednesday, sent a boat out to retrieve the body and bring it to a boat ramp behind the city trade center, Shull said.
The first search
Columbus police said they got reports of a man jumping into the river at 10:37 p.m. Tuesday. The department asked anyone with information to contact Detective William Ragland at 706-225-4056 or wiragland@columbusga.org.
Shull said crews with the Columbus Department of Fire and Emergency Medical Services initially were dispatched to the river around 11 p.m. Tuesday, after two people reported a man in his late 30s had jumped into the water.
Conditions were too dangerous to send divers in then, because it was dark and the water level was high, Shull said. But searchers scanned the river surface before deciding to come back in the morning, he said.
Battalion Chief Donnie Jones, the on-site commander Wednesday, said the recovery operation resumed around 6:30 a.m. Wednesday as crews began walking the riverbank looking for a body. Boats were launched again around 7:20 a.m., and divers were on the scene by 8:15, he said.
“We’ve got divers on the river today between the 13th Street Bridge and the Dillingham Bridge, and what we’re doing is we’re hitting different water pockets that have deep holes, and the divers are going in and searching,” Jones said.
They pulled the divers out around 4:30 p.m. Wednesday.
This story was originally published May 19, 2022 at 10:38 AM.