Vanderbilt Pitcher Drowns the night before regionals

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OFFICIAL RELEASE FROM Edward (Lucky) Knott, Public Information Officer for Coffee County Sheriff's Department: On June 2, 2016 just before 5 p.m. Deputy Charles Taylor, received a call of a subject that had gone under water in Normandy Lake at Fire Lake Bridge on Mt. View Road. Upon Taylor’s arrival at 5:05 p.m. another deputy, Brandon Reed obtained information that Donald Edward Everett age 19 of Clarksville had gone under the water and not re-surfaced. Deputy Reed did enter the water in an attempt to locate Everett but was unable to do so. Everett, a baseball player at Vanderbilt University had come to Normandy Lake to fish with 2 teammates and 2 other people. According to all four individuals Everett was on the west side of the bridge with one of his friends when he entered the water and attempted to swim across to the east. They stated that Everett got about halfway across the waterway when he began asking for help. All four individuals stated that they thought Everett was "just joking around" because he was smiling and did not seem to be in distress. One person did enter the water and pulled Everett several feet but stated that he is not a good swimmer and was struggling to stay afloat. He stated that Everett did not seem to be struggling. The friend stated that he let go of Everett and swam back to shore still thinking Everett was "joking". He stated that when he looked back, Everett had gone under and did not re-surface.

The Coffee County Sheriff's Department did launch a boat to assist with the rescue with the Coffee County Rescue Squad. Divers from the Coffee County Rescue Squad entered the water at 6:38 p.m. and surfaced and dove again at 6:47 p.m. At 6:49 p.m. divers found the body of Everett in approximately 25 feet of water approximately 15 foot off the shore line. Everett was transported by Coffee County EMS to Harton Regional Medical Center and then transported to Nashville by State Medical Examiners for autopsy.

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