Hardin Co. fire chief talks about man’s death in TN River
SALTILLO, Tenn. — A man lost his life after driving his vehicle into the Tennessee River.
Scott Day, 64, a disabled veteran drowned Friday night in Saltillo after driving down Saltillo’s Main Street and straight into the river.
The Hardin County Emergency 911 call log showed that Day called 911 himself to plead for help before drowning.
The call came in at 9:50 p.m. And the 911 location system was able to accurately fix his location in the
water at the end of the ramp, according to the call log.
The log shows that the man was able to speak for about 15 seconds. The log comment says, “Caller was saying, ‘Help me. I’m in the river.’ And then lost service.”
Hardin County Fire Chief Melvin Martin says there have been several accidents and deaths due to people driving their vehicles into the Tennessee River at the Saltillo boat ramp.
“I know of at least five that have died here in the last 20 years. There have been multiple others that have driven into the river and were able to escape,” Martin said.
Main Street in Saltillo is a straight, roughly half-mile road that leads directly to the Saltillo Landing boat ramp at the Tennessee River.
Martin said that he has spoken with the mayor of Saltillo, and they are going to work on a solution to prevent any more accidents or deaths from happening in the future.
“It’s dangerous for even our divers out in the swift water to get people out, the vehicles out, but it’s a sad situation for the families and the people that have drowned here. And it does not need to happen again,” Martin said.
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