Father of 7 dies days after Lake Hickory lawnmower accident, family says

HICKORY, N.C. — A landscaping worker and father of seven has died days after his mower was pulled from a lake in Hickory, according to our news partners the Hickory Record.

The incident happened May 10 near a home on Eighth Street Court on Lake Hickory.

The Catawba County Sheriff's Office said 51-year-old landscaping worker Jose Manuel Navarrete Garcia was mowing near Lake Hickory when his mower drove down into the water.

His daughter Xochitl Navarrete Almazan told the Hickory Record her father did not know how to swim.

(Jose Manuel Navarrete Garcia)

"He did not know how to swim and that caused him to drown," Almazan said.

Officials said Garcia was rescued, loaded into a boat, taken to the closest dock, and rushed to the hospital with life-threatening injuries.

Almazan said Garcia died Tuesday, days after the initial incident, from his injuries. She told the Hickory Record he was a father of five daughters and two sons.

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