Marshall Man Drowns While Saving Child in Lamine River

The Missouri State Highway Patrol says a 25-year-old man drowned in the Lamine River in west central Missouri while rescuing a child who was caught in the river's current.

Joseph Johnson, of Marshall, drowned Monday evening just after 7:30 while swimming with his family near Blackwater in Cooper County.

The patrol says Johnson swam after a child who was caught in the river's current and was able to get the child out of the current near the Harriean Hill Access. But Johnson was not able to escape the current himself. The patrol's report says Johnson was not wearing a flotation device.

Johnson was pronounced dead at 8:56 p.m. by the Cooper County Coroner. The body was taken to Campbell Lewis Funeral Home in Marshall.

This was Troop F's first drowning for 2020.