DAYTON — A new report released Thursday says a teen who drowned in the Great Miami River swam out half way before going under water.
Five Rivers MetroParks released an eight-page report on the Sunday accidental drowning of 13-year-old DeAngelo Casey, a seventh-grade honor student at Edwin Joel Brown Middle School in the Dayton Public Schools system.
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“We have all pitched in, made things happen to be able to lay my brother at peace,” said Lavon Johnson, DeAngelo’s brother.
Funeral visitation is 9 a.m. to noon Saturday at New Life in Christ Community Church, 17 Whitmore Ave., Dayton, followed by a celebration of life service at noon and burial in Jeffersonview Cemetery.
Johnson said his family has rallied around each other after the death of his younger brother.
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“Been communicating with other family members, friends and relatives that have really reached out that really truly understand the situation we’re going through right now and the pain and the struggle,” he said.
DeAngelo was with friends on Sunday, walking around the Triangle Park side near Island MetroPark when at one point, according to rangers, he entered the Great Miami River, swam about half way out, went under and never resurfaced.
Johnson said that’s what investigators told him Thursday, saying the entire event was an accident.
“He let me know that the kids that he was with told him the honest to God true story what happened to DeAngelo Casey,” he said.
The Dayton Fire Department had rescue boats and dive teams, and Wright Patterson Air Force Base also responded with dive teams. It took almost two hours to find DeAngelo’s body.
It was initially reported the waterway was the Stillwater River. The two rivers converge at Island Park MetroPark, but it was the Great Miami River involved in the drowning.
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