Nashville Police Officer Drowning: Services Set for Eric Mumaw

NASHVILLE, TN — A memorial services is set for Eric Mumaw, the Metro Nashville police officer who drowned in the Cumberland River Thursday during the rescue of a suicidal women at Neely's Bend. The service will be noon, Monday, February 6 at Cornerstone Church at 726 West Old Hickory Boulevard in Madison, just off the Interstate 65 exit. Visitation at the church will begin at 9 a.m..

Mumaw, 44, was a highly decorated, 18-year veteran of the Metro Nashville Police Department. He drowned Thursday morning after he and two other officers were assisting a woman believed to be suicidal. According to police, around 4:30 Thursday morning, Mumaw and Officer Trent Craig were speaking to the woman on the driver's side of her car as it sat on the boat ramp at Peeler Park on Neely's Bend, while Officer Nick Diamond talked to the woman from the passenger's side. Craig reached in to prevent the woman from putting the car into gear and Mumaw opened the door. Police say the woman then put the car in gear, causing it roll down the ramp.

Mumaw and Diamond went with the car and then lost their footing at the abrupt ending of the boat ramp. The motion of the car pulled them into deeper water. Diamond lost his grip on Mumaw, who was pulled into even deeper water. Both Diamond and the woman were able to swim back to shore. Craig, following the scene from the riverbank, ran through the woods and into the water in an attempt to save Mumaw, but lost sight of him.

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After an extensive search involving multiple agencies, Mumaw's body was recovered by a Nashville Fire Department diver around 8:15 Thursday morning.

Mumaw won MNPD's Exemplary Service Award in 2003. In 2007, he received a departmental commendation after rescuing a baby from a stolen SUV, and in 2011 he was awarded the Life Saving Award as part of a group of officers who saved a woman from a drunken, armed relative.

He is the 18th Metro Nashville officer to die in the line of duty since the department's creation in 1963. He is the first Tennessee officer to die in the line by drowning since Cocke County Sheriff's Deputy George Leon Wiley, who drowned in the French Broad River May 17, 1927 while pursuing two alleged moonshiners, according to the Officer Down Memorial Page.

The city's flags are at half-staff and public buildings and bridges have been lit blue in Mumaw's memory. The city has set up a special email address — OfficerMumaw@nashville.gov — for people to share memories and condolences. Mumaw's patrol car is parked outside of the Madison precinct and is already turning into a memorial.

Image via Metro Nashville Police