Teens fleeing police jump barrier and plunge into river, TN cops say. Body found
Three teens fleeing law enforcement in a stolen vehicle got out on a bridge and hopped a concrete barrier, thinking they would land on solid ground, Tennessee deputies said.
They fell 80 feet into the Tennessee River below, and rescuers have now recovered a body.
One teen survived with a punctured lung, and a third remains missing, Loudon County Sheriff Jimmy Davis said April 11.
Tennessee Highway Patrol began chasing a stolen vehicle containing three teenage boys at around 4 a.m. April 9 in the Chattanooga area, according to the sheriff’s office.
Law enforcement lost sight of the vehicle, then police later found it and started up another pursuit before losing it again, Davis said.
The next time authorities found the vehicle, it was empty and on the Tennessee River Bridge on Interstate 75, the sheriff said.
Not long after, law enforcement began receiving calls about vehicle break-ins near the bridge, and the responding officer found a teen on a porch, deputies said.
The officer “noticed some signs of distress, thinking he may be injured,” Davis said, and the teen was taken to a hospital.
The teen indicated he was part of the group that fled police, and he said two of his companions ended up in the water with him, according to the sheriff.
“Statements of his said they were jumping over the barrier, thinking they were just jumping over a barrier onto another piece of concrete or a roadway,” Davis said.
But the north- and southbound lanes are separated by water.
“So they did in fact jump the barrier in the middle of the bridge. They went straight to an over 80-foot drop into the water,” according to the sheriff.
Search and rescue teams scoured the river for days for the two missing teens using sonar, drones, divers and helicopters, until they found one body April 11.
The second missing teen remains missing, the sheriff’s office said.
Loudon County is part of the Knoxville metropolitan area.
This story was originally published April 11, 2025 at 5:18 PM with the headline "Teens fleeing police jump barrier and plunge into river, TN cops say. Body found."