Cannon Co. teen drowns near Tullahoma

 By WAYNE THOMAS, Staff Writer, Tullahoma News

A Cannon County High School student identified as Jake Taylor, 16, of Woodbury,  died in a drowning accident Tuesday afternoon at Rutledge Falls, according to information from the state medical examiner and the Coffee County Sheriff’s Department,

Sheriff’s Sgt. Danny Ferrell said Taylor and 10 of his friends from Cannon County had been swimming in the pool below the falls before the accident when some of the group realized that Taylor was missing.

 “Some of them missed him and were looking for him,” Ferrell said. “They went  to see if he was in the car but he wasn’t. Then they spotted his shoes and shirt so they knew he was still around the water.”

The friends continued searching and when they spotted him in the water, pulled him out and started CPR but could not revive him, according to Ferrell.

It was speculated that the boy may have slipped on underwater rocks in the pool.

Ferrell and Deputy Kelly Smith along with members of the Coffee County Ambulance Service and the Tullahoma Fire Department who had arrived began the task of moving the victim’s body up the narrow, rocky trail that leads to Rutledge Falls Road.

The body was transported to United Regional Medical Center in Manchester and later transferred to the State Medical Examiner’s Office for autopsy. A grief counselor was called to the hospital to help the victim’s friends who had gathered there.

Rutledge Falls on Crumpton Creek is a privately owned Coffee County landmark on Rutledge Falls Road east of Tullahoma.