Identity of man who drowned in the Congaree River released

The Richland County Coroner’s Office has released the name of the individual who died Saturday in an incident on the Congaree River.

James Henry Hutto Jr., 31, died after he and a friend went into the river around 8:30 p.m. Saturday, Richland County Coroner Gary Watts said in a statement released Sunday. Hutto’s body was found by Richland County Sheriff’s Department dive teams around 2:30 a.m. Sunday near the Gervais Street Bridge.

An autopsy conducted Sunday showed that Hutto died from fresh water drowning, Watts said.

Initial reports said the two individuals allegedly jumped from the Gervais Street bridge into the Congaree River Saturday evening. However, it has not been determined where exactly the two were or what they were doing before going into the water, Columbia Fire Department spokesman Brick Lewis said.

Emergency search and rescue teams responded to the area between the spillway near the Columbia Canal and the bridge around 10:30 p.m. Saturday and located one of the individuals who resurfaced on his own, Lewis said. Emergency teams continued to search for Hutto through the early morning hours on Sunday.

The individual that resurfaced did not receive any life-threatening injuries, Lewis confirmed.

Both lanes of traffic were closed on the bridge as the search was conducted, but were reopened as early as Sunday afternoon.

Mindy Lucas contributed to this report.

This story was originally published July 12, 2015 at 10:27 AM.