What should have been a holiday celebration last weekend turned into a tragedy for one Springfield family.
Felix Melendez Deras, 13, of Springfield, was playing at the beach area at Cheatham Dam in Ashland City around 1 p.m. on Friday, July 4, when he fell into the water and drowned, according to Cheatham County Emergency Management Agency Director and Fire Chief Edwin Hogan. “He was playing in the area there they call the beach. It has a rectangle area roped off. The deepest part is seven to eight feet and he was playing around that area and fell off, fell into the water, and it goes from eight feet to about 20 feet and he couldn’t swim,” Hogan said.
Responding agencies included the Cheatham County Sheriff’s Office, Pleasant View Volunteer Fire Department, Ashland City Fire Department, CCEMA and the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, with assistance from divers from Montgomery and Stewart Counties. “Ashland City located him using sonar and then they used the robot to get to him. TWRA had an underground robot and they located him. As soon the Tennessee Wildlife Resources divers got there, they went right in and brought him up and put him in Ashland City’s boat and [Cheatham County] EMS transported him to Ashland City and the transport company came and got the child and took him to the medical examiner for an autopsy,” Hogan said…