NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — After Metro Council approved a riverfront study, Nashville Mayor Freddie O'Connell said the city is making headway on studying ways to make the areas leading to the Cumberland River a safer place.
The study came about after the disappearance of Riley Strain, a college student who fell in the Cumberland River — where he ultimately died.
Cameras tracked Strain's movements around downtown Nashville, but no cameras pinpointed him on the banks of the Cumberland or caught his fall. In their resolution, council members asked for recommendations about security coverage and blind spots in downtown, particularly the riverfront.
"The capital spending plan actually includes $1.5 million specifically for Riverfront safety, focused on fencing there," O'Connell said Tuesday. "In addition, our Office of Nightlife works closely with MNPD and the Entertainment District Initiative. They joined the Nashville Downtown Partnership in the overall process of clean and safe. We've had new partners joining the effort, including the expansion of service by Red Frogs downtown. So we are expecting this to be a place where additional investment joins a growing network of partners down there."
Strain was not the only person to wander from Broadway to land into the river. This summer, a New Jersey woman was found alive after friends reported her missing. Police said she emerged from the riverbank. She was separated from her friend at Third Avenue and Broadway just before 2 a.m.
Officers searched around the riverbank at First and Woodland since that's where she was last seen on downtown cameras. O'Connell said the city was to continue to see an expansion of some of the partnerships that the Office of Nightlife is working on.
"We've seen a number of incidents along the riverfront that I think make it an appropriate area of focus," O'Connell said. "I think we simply see more people downtown — more people maybe coming to town for the first time. We are a river city but it's one with a fast-moving river unlike some other river cities. We have a lot of bluffs, so I think we want to make sure that where there are those blind spots along existing infrastructure, you get to those bluffs that we keep people informed that some areas of the riverfront may be less safe than others, just from the topography that's there."
Metro Council wants to see a collective report about securing the riverfront in 2025.
Who was Riley Strain?
Strain, 22, was a University of Missouri senior who disappeared after a night out with friends in downtown Nashville on March 8. The university recently recognized him during the graduation proceedings.
He went missing after he was asked to leave Luke Bryan's bar on Lower Broadway.
Surveillance video and body-cam footage was released detailing the night, as well as a statement from Luke Bryan's bar, claiming they only ever sold him one alcoholic beverage and two glasses of water.
His full autopsy indicated an accidental drowning. At the time, MNPD Chief John Drake said preliminary indications were that it was a horrible accident. A toxicology report for Riley Strain showed his blood alcohol level was nearly triple the legal limit. The report showed Strain's blood alcohol level was .228. He also had traces of Delta 9 in his system. Delta 9 is a legal form of THC that is readily available in Tennessee.
There was no evidence of trauma or that Strain had been drugged. Additionally, there was no sign he was the victim of a crime.
Do you have more information about this story? You can email me at emily.west@newschannel5.com.
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