Featured Image Credit: FOX13 Memphis
Topics: US News
Mia Williams
These were the heartbreaking final words from a teenager who drowned after his brothers dared him to swim in a lake.
Back in 2020, a 19-year-old boy drowned in Tunica County lake after being dared to swim across it by his brothers.
The victim, known as J.W Ransom, was set to graduate from high school when the tragic accident happened.
A chilling video of Ransom swimming in the lake captured his final heartbreaking words before he got into difficulty and drowned.
A family friend said Ransom was visiting friends when it all happened.
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"That’s a hurting feeling. Seeing him go down in the water, yelling for help but nobody could help him,” family friend Grenisha Rogers said at the time of his death.
Rogers added that people tried to save Ransom, but the water was just too deep.
“When the firefighter came over, they told us it’s a drop off and it’s 30 feet deep,” she said.
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Ransom left behind a child, with Rogers confirming: “…He has a child. He has a seven-month-old. So, that’s just a hurting feeling that nobody wants."
Investigators said it happened at a lake at the Cypress Lake Apartments off Casino Center Drive Extension on 23 May, 2020.
A video circulating the internet captures Ransom swimming across the lake, and it reveals what he said to his friends before jumping in.
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Before entering the water, J.W jokingly said: "If I drown, who's going to come get me?"
He could be seen swimming across most of the length of the lake, before the video cut and the panic of his friends and family set in.
A lifeguard in the comments of the video on X said: “I was a lifeguard at a popular chain amusement park, and they train you to detect what drowning *actually* looks like.
“It’s not thrashing, it’s very subtle and quiet. Such a sad situation, I hope more people learn the importance of learning to swim, not to joke like this, and to wear life jackets if needed.”
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One person who shared a similar experience to Ransom, said: “Also…do not swim in cold water. Your body and lungs lock up and you can’t move.
“I nearly drowned swimming across my friend's pond in Minnesota in April many years ago.”
A post about the horrific incident on Reddit alleged that Ransom had been promised the ‘down payment on his car’ if he managed to swim across the lake and back.