Cobb County police sergeant jailed in connection with drowning death of co-worker.

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Source: 911 tape: Cobb County police officer took risks, friend said | ajc.com


Two people have been arrested in connection with last week's drowning death of a Cobb County police officer at Lake Allatoona, authorities announced Wednesday.

Phil Skinner, AJC A boat carrying law enforcement officers leaves Harbor Town Marina in Acworth on a search Friday for Brent Stephens, a sergeant on the Cobb police force, who went overboard Thursday night.
The driver of the boat, Kenneth Paul Reda, 37, has been charged with making false statements and obstruction. Reda, also a Cobb County police officer, is in the Cherokee County jail. Also arrested was Shelly Powell, 37, who is accused of misleading investigators following the incident.

Reda, of Acworth, originally told public safety officials that he and the victim were the only individuals on the boat at the time. But on Wednesday, the Cherokee County sheriff said investigators believe Powell, also of Acworth, was also on the boat.

The body of Sgt. Brent Stephens was found Friday afternoon. Reda initially told police that he thought Stephens had jumped out of the boat. Instead, investigators now say the boat collided with a navigational marker, which knocked Stephens out of the boat.

Reda said he thought his buddy, Stephens, was playing a prank when the fellow policeman went into the dark waters of Lake Allatoona last Thursday night.

For almost 47 minutes on a recorded telephone call to Cherokee County’s 911 center, Reda was calm as he explained how Stephens was “standing up right next to me” at the controls on the center console of his 22-foot “shore boat” and then was gone.

“I’m out here on Lake Allatoona. I have a friend I think jumped off my boat and I have no idea where he is,” Reda said on the 911 tape obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “I think he jumped off or whatever the case. I don’t know if he fell off the boat. ... I turned around and started looking for him right away. I found his flipflops, and I have not found him.”

Fifteen hours after Reda made the 10:45 p.m. call from his cell phone, divers recovered Stephens’ body from the lake.

Authorities have not released the cause of death, saying the case remains an open investigation. But shortly after the body of the 35-year-old husband and father was recovered, police were suggesting that he drowned.