Nashville Police Officer Drowning: Eric Mumaw Remembered at Vigil, Procession Route Set for Monday's Memorial Service

MADISON, TN — Hundreds of people gathered Friday night at the edge of the boat ramp at Peeler Park to honor Metro Police officer Eric Mumaw, who, along with another officer, sprinted down that same ramp early Thursday morning in an effort to save a suicidal woman. Pulled into deeper water by the current of the Cumberland River, Mumaw drowned.

The vigil was organized by Mumaw's friend, Hannah Penn, who grew to know the officer while working the third shift at the Madison Steak 'n' Shake. She said Mumaw was always smiling and that his heroism came as no surprise.

"Eric gave his life for a complete stranger, a complete stranger, and I'll guarantee he would do everything the exact same way," she said, according to NewsChannel 5.

The crowd lit white candles, surrounded by a blue penumbra made by the flashing lights of his gathered colleagues, and Penn called for 62 seconds of silence: 44 for each year of his life and 18 for his years of service with the police department.

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Mumaw, a decorated veteran of the Metro police force, and two other officers, Trent Craig and Nick Diamond, were talking to Juli Glisson, 40, on the boat ramp at Peeler Park on Neely's Bend around 4:30 Thursday morning, after a family reported that she was drunk and suicidal. According to investigators, Craig reached into the car to keep Glisson from putting the car into gear. As Mumaw opened the driver's side door, police say Glisson shifted the car out of park, causing it to roll down the ramp. Mumaw and Diamond went with the car, lost their footing on the edge of the ramp and went into the Cumberland River.

Diamond lost his grip on Mumaw, who was pulled into deeper water. Craig ran from the shoreline into the water to try to save his colleague, but was unsuccessful. A Nashville Fire Department diver discovered Mumaw's body around 8:30 a.m.

Glisson, who is on probation from an April 2016 DUI conviction, will be arrested for vehicular homicide when she is released from the hospital.

Glisson's boyfriend, Kevin Hurt, told WSMV that she went to Smyrna's StoneCrest Medical Center on Wednesday because she was suicidal, but was told she couldn't stay because she did not have health insurance

“I don’t think someone should be released when they’re wanting to kill themselves,” he told Channel 4. “She should have been in the hospital.”

Mumaw's memorial service is set for noon Monday at Cornerstone Church in Madison, with visitation at the church beginning at 9 a.m. The police department announced that Mumaw's body will be escorted from Spring Hill Funeral Home to the church by officers beginning at 7 a.m. via Due West and Graycroft. See a map of the route below:

Image via Metro Nashville Police