Video seems to show Mississippi man drowned on a bet to win car payment

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A video posted on social media reportedly shows a Mississippi man being goaded into swimming across a pond on a bet Saturday afternoon.

If he won, those encouraging him promised to give him the cash for a down payment on a car. Minutes later he drowned.

Tunica County Sheriff’s deputies were called at approximately 12:30 p.m. after J.W. Ransom II, 20, disappeared after attempting to swim across the pond at the Cypress Lakes Apartments in Robinsonville, Mississippi, deputies reported. Several young men taunt and kid the man in the video for several minutes, as he and others negotiate how much money is on the line if he swims the lake.

“If I drown, who’s going to come and get me?” the man in the video says before he enters the water.

The video shows the man swim about halfway across when those watching on the shore accuse him of walking in the bottom, but warn the lake drops off in the middle.

Then distress calls can be heard on the video and the video goes dark.

Open your eyes, he’s going to drown,” one person is heard screaming.

“Get him!” others are heard yelling. “Get J.W., bro!”

Then you can hear someone calling 911 saying “We’ve got an emergency.”

Tunica County Sheriff’s Office investigators report they found Ransom’s body and sent it to the Mississippi Crime Lab for an autopsy.

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