Harrisburg man drowns in Willamette River near Clearwater Park

A 26-year-old Harrisburg man drowned in the Willamette River near Clearwater Park on July 14 after the group he was floating with hit a snag in the water. Eugene Springfield Fire responded to a missing-person call and later found Ervan Dominick Lucia face-down in the river, tethered to a paddleboard.

The Lane County Sheriff’s Office said the death was an accidental drowning tied to a river hazard. Lucia was with a group on the water when the snag separated him from the others; the rest of the group made it back to the riverbank, but Lucia did not return with them.

That sequence is the part that matters for people who spend summer afternoons on the Willamette. Current, submerged obstacles and cold water can turn a familiar stretch into a dangerous one in seconds, even when friends are floating together and the outing feels low-risk. Clearwater Park sits in the Eugene-Springfield area, where river access is part of the draw for swimmers, floaters, rafters and anglers.

Lane County describes rafting and fishing on the Willamette and McKenzie rivers as part of the county’s outdoor appeal, and that familiarity can make hazards easier to miss. A snag can catch a tube, paddleboard or swimmer and pull someone off course, while moving water can separate people before they realize how fast conditions have changed.

The immediate safety lessons from this death are straightforward: wear a life jacket, pay attention to snags and underwater obstacles, and do not assume a calm-looking river is safe just because the bank is busy and the weather is warm. Around Clearwater Park and other Willamette access points, the danger often comes not from a dramatic event but from one hidden hazard, one current shift and one person not making it back to shore.