Man Drowns Attempting to Retrieve Bag from Rhode River

Update (Monday, 11 a.m.): The victim in the Sunday drowning has been identified by Anne Arundel County Police as Judson Brandt Bell, 57 of Edgewater.

Police spokesman Justin Mulcahy said that the police investigation revealed that a piece of trash had blown into Whitemarsh Creek. Bell saw the bag and swam out to retrieve it. When he was swimming back to shore, he suddenly disappeared under water.

Witnesses who saw Bell go under swam out to find him. The brought him to shore and attempted CPR. When fire and poice arrived they used an automated external defibrillator (AED) on Bell. He was transported to Anne Arundel Medical Center where he later died.

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Original story: A man in his late 50s to early 60s drowned Sunday afternoon in the 3900 block of Whitemarsh Lane in Edgewater, according to Anne Arundel County Fire Department Chief Michael Cox.

"The gentleman dove into the creek to retrieve a bag or something of that nature that had fallen in," said Anne Arundel County Fire Department Chief Michael Cox. "As he was swimming back, he began to become distressed and went under the water. He surfaced again within around a minute, then residents at the scene entered the water, searched for him, found him and began CPR."

Cox said that the first responder units on the scene took over resuscitation efforts and the man was eventually transported to Anne Arundel Medical Center in Annapolis.

The victim did not survive.