A 26-year-old paddleboarder died Tuesday, July 14, after apparently getting caught on a snag while floating the Willamette River with friends.

Ervan Dominick Lucia, of Harrisburg, died after being taken to a hospital for treatment, the Lane County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release Thursday.

The apparent drowning took place near Clearwater Park and Landing, just south of Springfield, at about 4:40 p.m. Tuesday, said sheriff’s office spokesperson Sgt. Levi McKenny. Marine Patrol deputies responded after a report that one person from a group floating the river had gone missing.

The others in the group made their way to shore after they hit a snag in the river, but Eugene Springfield Fire rescuers found Lucia face down in the water, the sheriff’s office said.

A sheriff’s office investigation found that Lucia was tethered to his paddleboard. He was not wearing a life jacket.

The sheriff’s office, in a statement, said that tethering to equipment is “always dangerous,” and that any tethering should allow users to break away easily.

A GoFundMe page to raise money for funeral expenses described Lucia as “a great person and fun to be around and a great brother to his twin.”

A 67-year-old Eugene man died in August 2025 after falling off an inner tube near Clearwater Park and getting trapped beneath branches in the river.