EMS Crew Recalls Tragic Drowning at Macon, GA, Lake

When paramedics Jacob DiPaolo and Dominique Hodges and EMT Kole Adams arrived at Lake Tobesofkee on May 23, they were expecting an easy day of fishing and soaking up the sun.

The three were “posted up” at the lake — which is when emergency services stations ambulances in areas that are difficult to reach but see a high volume of calls, DiPaolo said. Being at the lake is typically a lucky post, especially on a sunny Friday before Memorial Day weekend. The three were hoping for an easy day and headed to the tackle shop to get fishing supplies and pass the time.

The three men said they had only been out of the ambulance for a few minutes when a young girl came up to them crying for help for her two brothers and a third boy, who she said were drowning in the lake just a few dozen yards away.

They dropped everything. Adams, DiPaolo and Hodges said they had seen the three boys — a 10-year-old, an 8-year-old and a 7-year-old — splashing at the edge of the water and feeding the ducks that live along the shore when they first pulled into the parking lot. In just a few minutes, the scene had changed drastically.

They rushed to the edge of the lake, where an aunt and a family friend screamed as the boys struggled against the dark water. Neither of the women could swim, and they begged Hodges, Adams and DiPaolo to rescue the boys, the first responders said.

DiPaolo was the first in the lake. He said paramedic training emphasized staying out of the water during situations like these, but all he could think about were the children in trouble and their family paralyzed with fear.

“I just kind of blanked out, really,” DiPaolo said. “It was just that I saw somebody who needed help and just kind of went in.”

DiPaolo said he swam out to the 10-year-old, who was struggling just under the water’s surface near a dropoff with a strong current. Hodges and Adams remained on shore and called for backup.

The boy was limp as DiPaolo grabbed him and hauled him back to the lake’s edge. Hodges said he was breathing for the child and loading him into the ambulance when the gravity of the situation set in.

“It takes you out of the first responders’ stance and makes you realize, ‘That could’ve been my nephew, that could’ve been my cousin or my son,’” Hodges said.

Meanwhile, Adams joined DiPaolo in the water to search for the 8-year-old and the 7-year-old.

However, by the time DiPaolo and Adams began to search for the remaining two boys, they had disappeared below the lake, Adams said. DiPaolo and Adams searched the water for another 10 minutes before DiPaolo became too tired to carry on and returned to the shore.

Adams said he kept swimming. As DiPaolo stepped out of the water, firefighters and park rangers arrived on scene. A park ranger joined Adams in the lake to look for the remaining two boys.

The water Adams was diving into was nearly 25 feet deep with a thick layer of silt coating the bottom. He said he could hardly see through the dark, murky water, and felt so desperate to find the boys he started praying between gulps of air at the surface.

“I’m a Christian … and I’ve maybe had one other time in my job when I was praying out loud,” Adams said. “I would dive, come back up, take a breath, pray for a second, and then go right back down.”

After about 14 minutes, Adams made a final dive to the bottom. He reached towards the bottom, his hands fumbling through the dirt until he grabbed onto a t-shirt. He pulled the shirt towards him, and with it came the 8-year-old. Adams curled the boy to his chest and shot to the surface.

Adams said he performed CPR on the boy as he swam him back to shore and Hodges loaded him into a second ambulance.

Soaking wet and exhausted, Adams retired to the shoreline alongside DiPaolo as a dive team arrived to search for the third and final boy. Hodges said he rode to the hospital alongside the two boys and their family, and by the time he returned, the 7-year-old had been pulled from the water and declared dead on scene. He was later identified as Tristan Cornelius, according to the Bibb County Coroner’s Office.

“I think that’s when everything started hitting,” DiPaolo said. “We went from being on the lake for an enjoyable afternoon to all of these events.”

The 8-year-old boy, identified as Kiheen Johnson Jeffrey, was at the hospital in critical condition and died early Saturday morning, according to Bibb County Coroner Leon Jones.

The 10-year-old remained in stable condition for a few days following the incident and was discharged from the hospital, the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release.

Investigators have not disclosed what led up to the drowning.

“Being there, seeing them play beforehand and having a good afternoon, then all of a sudden it’s a life changing event,” DiPaolo said. “It’s been a hard pill to swallow.”

Hodges echoed a similar sentiment, and said this was one of the most harrowing calls he had answered during his nearly seven years with EMS.

“You normally get dispatched to a call, so you have time to mentally and physically prepare for whatever you’re about to walk into,” Hodges said. “But it really set in that it was do or die.”

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