JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A man apparently drowned in the St. Johns River Friday after he was seen reaching for a balloon floating in the river, according to the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office.
Multiple agencies responded just before 6 p.m. Friday to a report of a man who had fallen into the water from the Riverwalk near the Acosta Bridge.
According to the incident report, a 70-year-old man told police that a man walked over to the bench he was sitting on and asked to borrow his walking cane to retrieve a balloon floating in the St. Johns River. The 70-year-old refused, and the man instead climbed over the railing, held on with one hand and reached for the balloon.
The man told police he heard a splash and saw the man with his head underwater "doggy paddling," so he went back to get his phone from the bench to call for help. By the time he got back over to the railing, the man in the water had disappeared, the report said.
Jacksonville Sheriff's Office, Jacksonville Fire-Rescue and the U.S. Coast Guard all participated in the search for the man.
IMAGES: Coast Guard, police search for man in St. Johns River
When a body was seen in the river about 8 p.m. Saturday, a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officer responded. The man was pulled from the river near the Times-Union Center.
The identity of the man pulled from the river has not been released, and it has not been confirmed that he was the same man who fell in while reaching for the balloon.