Smyrna man drowns in Chattahoochee trying to help boy

A 25-year-old Smyrna man drowned Sunday after trying to help a child he thought was in distress.

Cobb County police found the body of Omar Fraire underwater in the Chattahoochee River Sunday evening. Fraire went into the water to help a child he believed was underwater and needed help, according to a press release from the police department.

When Fraire did not resurface, someone in the group called for emergency assistance.

There was a boy in the group Fraire was with, and the boy was in the water, but not in distress, Cobb police spokesman Mike Bowman told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in a phone interview. The child was able to get out of the water on his own .

“We located the child and for precautionary reasons he was transported to a local hospital where he was treated and released,” Bowman said.

Fraire was transported to Emory Adventist Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, according to the release.