Man found dead in Wissahickon Creek in apparent drowning
Police responded to a 911 call reporting a man drowning.
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A man was found dead in Wissahickon Creek on Friday evening, Philadelphia police said, in what appears to have been a drowning.
Officers and medics responded to a 911 call reporting a man drowning in the creek near 7700 Forbidden Dr., according to police. The man, 21, was pronounced dead at 5:47 p.m.
Friday was a sudden scorcher; with temperatures rising to 94 degrees.
Swimming in Wissahickon Creek and other city streams and rivers is prohibited by city law, though people still have flocked to Devil’s Pool, a spot in Wissahickon Valley Park so popular that it has at times been overrun with trash.
» READ MORE: Philadelphia's Wissahickon is slammed with millions of visitors, increasing trash, noise, risks
Dangers await swimmers in the creek, said Ruffian Tittmann, executive director of the Friends of the Wissahickon.
“It’s especially dangerous, in addition to diving into water you don’t know, to dive into areas around the dams because that force creates a churn that can be very hard to break out of even for an experienced swimmer,” Tittmann told GreenPhilly in 2020, adding that wildlife such as beavers and water snakes are an additional hazard.
On Saturday, runners will gather on the creek trail for the return of the Wissahickon Trail Classic.