Overview
- The incident occurred on Saturday when 24-year-old Rogers officer Fred Marsh entered Missouri’s Elk River to help a struggling swimmer and was swept under by the current.
- Family members and the Rogers Police Department say the swimmer was Marsh’s girlfriend, who had become his fiancée earlier that morning when he proposed.
- A fellow Rogers officer and others helped move the fiancée to safety, but Marsh went underwater and did not resurface; he was recovered and pronounced dead the following day, officials said.
- Marsh had graduated from the Arkansas Law Enforcement Training Academy in April and was in his first year with the Rogers Police Department, and his family described him as faith-guided and selfless.
- Local law enforcement organized a motorcade to honor Marsh, his family is arranging funeral services, and a GoFundMe started by the fiancée’s sister is raising money to cover immediate expenses.