Crime & Safety

2nd Drowning in Potomac River in 2 Weeks

Two men have drowned in the same general area of the Potomac River—near Bear Island—in the past week and a half.

Update (Monday, July 1, 4:40 p.m.): The body of Vincent Crapps, 21, was found in the Potomac River near Bear Island at about 2:25 p.m. Monday, July 1. He was deceased when he was found, according to a Montgomery County Police Department statement.

Crapps was diving off the cliffs on the Virginia side of the Potomac River near Great Falls on Saturday when his friends noticed him go under the water and not resurface. His friends—who tried to rescue him, according to the Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service's Twitter feed—called 911 at about 5:30 p.m., the statement reported.

Crapps was in the Army's 3rd United States Infantry Regiment, known as the Old Guard, and was stationed at Fort Myer, VA, the statement said.

Original post (Monday, July 1, 2:40 p.m.):
 Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service crews searched the Potomac River this past weekend for a young man who went missing in the water on Saturday evening, according to the MCFRS' Twitter feed.

It was the second time in little over a week that rescue crews performed this type of operation.

The 21-year-old man went missing on Saturday near Purple Horse Beach on Bear Island, which is part of the Billy Goat Trail along the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal National Historic Park in Potomac, CBS DC reported.

The man went under the water in the same general area as did Ngo Tekwe Forchick, 19, of Takoma Park, on Monday, June 24. Forchick's body was found last Wednesday morning after an extended search, Potomac Patch reported.

The man who went missing this past Saturday was with three friends, all of whom tried to rescue him, MCFRS reported on Twitter. By nightfall Saturday, MCFRS was calling the incident an "apparent drowning," CBS DC reported.

Rescue crews continued the search on Sunday and Monday, when—at about 11 a.m.—MCFRS' Twitter account stated that "the search has concluded for Monday July 1." 

Rescue crews take search efforts on a day-by-day basis, and "everything has concluded for today," MCFRS Assistant Chief Scott Graham told Patch on Monday afternoon.

CBS DC reported that "Montgomery County officials have warned that swimming in the area is illegal due to strong currents, but many disregard the warning."

Editor's note: The victim's age has been updated in this post, as per a police statement update.


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