BY JOHN HOPKINS
The Cincinnati Enquirer
The body of an East End teen was pulled from the Little Miami River on Friday, a day after he was swept away by currents during a fishing trip.
Searchers removed the body of 17-year-old Shawn Gabbard from the river Friday afternoon. He was found a short distance from the spot were he was last seen struggling in the current.
Mr. Gabbard was fishing and wading through the still, knee-high water at about 8:30 p.m. Thursday with several friends, police and witnesses said. He waded into the middle of the river and further downstream -- distancing himself from the others -- when he was pulled under by the current.
For about five minutes, some of Mr. Gabbard's friends and two brothers tried to help him. Mr. Gabbard was with his brothers when the current finally swept him away.
A search by air, land and water was conducted in the 5200 block of Beechmont Avenue, where the Little Miami crosses under the Beechmont bridge. The search was suspended at 4:30 a.m. Friday and resumed later that morning, Cincinnati police said.
Divers, helicopters, Cincinnati police dogs and search boats scanned the river, using powerful spotlights after sunset.
The river had appeared deceptively low Thursday, said a friend who was with Mr. Gabbard when he disappeared.
"It was real calm," said Ricky Taylor of the East End, "But when we went down there, it surprised the hell out of me.
"It'll be shallow one minute and the next thing you know, it's 20 feet straight down."
Last year a 12-year-old girl, standing in the shallow river's edge of Little Miami in Milford, was swept under by strong currents and drowned.
Life jackets could help save many in such situations, said Capt. Mike Smith of Batavia Fire and Rescue, which handles about two drownings a year.
"The way the river is, you could walk five feet in shallow water and there could be a drop-off," he said. "It happens all the time."
