Young man dies in James River near Belle Isle

Update 7/17 12:49 PM:

The Richmond Police Department has identified the man who drowned in the James River on Saturday as Rudy Organiz-Aguilon, 20, of the 100 block of North Laburnum Avenue.

At approximately 3:25 p.m., an officer on Belle Isle was alerted to a male needing assistance in the James River. The Richmond Fire Department River Rescue team responded and located Organiz-Aguilon in the river, brought him to shore and attempted to resuscitate him.

Organiz-Aguilon was transported to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead.

No foul play is suspected.

Original Post:

Saturday around 3:42 PM Richmond Police responded to a report of a person in the water near Lee Bridge. It wasn’t until 5:14 PM that the body was brought to shore.  CPR started immediately but at 6:15 PM it was determined that the young male did not have a heartbeat.The man has only been identified as a 19-year-old Hispanic male.

According to RTD this is the second body recovered from the James this year:

The death is the second recorded recovery of a body from the James River by Richmond firefighters this year, Armstrong said. In 2017, the department has responded to 48 river-related calls and rescued 29 people.

Armstrong said the number of calls is consistent with recent years, although the frequency greatly increases in summertime, when people flock to the river.

On Sunday, two rescue teams training on the James happened upon two separate incidents that required rescue assistance. They pulled to safety one man and, later, an adult and child stranded on the rocks. Both occurred about 2:30 p.m.