RABUN COUNTY, Ga. — The family of an Atlanta firefighter who died in a swimming accident at Tallulah Gorge State Park is speaking about that tragic day.
On Saturday, Tavaris Slade, 38, of Jonesboro, was swimming at the Sliding Rock trail with family members when he went under. He was pulled out after nearly five minutes. First responders were able to revive him briefly, but he died before he could make it to a hospital.
“This has taken a part of my soul. I am drained. I have never felt this way before,” Jacqueline Calhoun said. “I never thought I would be burying my children.”
It's still unknown what caused Slade to go underwater. Calhoun says the popular swimming hole where he died is too dangerous, even for adults. She wants the man-made slide closed to swimming.
“I don’t want anybody else to die. I don’t want any other mother to be in my shoes,” she said. “It’s not that I blame anybody, because Tavaris made a choice.”
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Calhoun says her son had dreams of starting a business.
“What saddens me is he won’t live out those goals and he won’t see his son grow up,” Calhoun said.
Slade’s son is 13 years old.
“He was devoted to being a good father, not even that, a great father,” his son, Brenddan Slade, said.
Brenddan was there when his father went under.
The park told Channel 2’s Dave Huddleston that all visitors swim at their own risk.
Slade worked for Atlanta fire for six years. He was also a U.S. Army veteran.
“He loved the department. He loved the brotherhood. He loved what he did,” Calhoun said. “He was one of the kind of people, if he saw a stranger in trouble, he was going to save them.”
Slade was forced to leave the department after he was seriously injured in a 2015 fire truck crash, where he fractured vertebrae, his skull and broke a foot.
Slade’s funeral will be held on Aug. 19.
Cox Media Group
