ATLANTA — Nearly a year after Roswell blocked access to a creek inside a popular park, a man drowned while swimming there.
It happened Thursday afternoon on Vickery Creek at Old Mill Park.
It was last August when the city prohibited people from getting in the water here at Old Mill Park.
On a hot summer day, the rushing creek is irresistible for many park visitors.
But city officials say swimmers were leaving too much litter and getting into too much trouble.
Summer after summer, the calls for help flowed in: People slipping on the rocks and getting hurt.
Roswell officials say the waterfall along Vickery Creek had become so popular that crowds were trashing the place.
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To protect the environment and prevent injuries, the Roswell City Council voted to block people from getting in the water.
The creek bank is now chained off and posted with “No Access” signs.
But visitors can still access the water on the other side of the creek, which is National Park Service property.
“It is slippery. The currents are a little bit rough,” swimmer Mikayla Shedrawy, 18, said.
She told Channel 2’s Bryan Mims that she swims in Vickery Creek every summer, though a Roswell police officer came by to tell her to stay out of the water.
On Thursday afternoon, a man went under the water here by the waterfall and did not resurface.
Roswell police say with the help of a bystander, an officer found the man and pulled him out, but he was unresponsive.
Vidal Perez, 32, died in the hospital.
“Honestly, it’s so surprising to me. Because usually everywhere down there, it’s like you can stand up. You can like touch a rock and grab a rock to get out,” Shedrawy said.
Sandy Johnson said she was also surprised to hear about the death.
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