RedactedNarrative: On Wednesday March 29th, 2017, I received a notification from Hamilton County 911 dispatch regarding a potential boating incident with people in the water.  I responded and arrived on scene to learn that both men had been rescue and pulled to safety by Chattanooga Fire Department staff.
  Upon interviewing subjects, the canoe was recently purchased and only been used 1 time previously.  They put the canoe in the creek, put their life jackets on, and set out to go paddle the creek.  Upon boarding the canoe, they both stated that the canoe felt as if it was going to tip over.  Once on the creek, which was high from recent rains, the canoe floated them downstream quicker than expected.  They struck a tree that was growing out from the bank up through the water.  They stayed pinned against the tree for about a minute and when subject1 tried to free them with a paddle, they capsized.
  They both held on to each other and the bank of the creek while yelling for help.  A witness, who had left the scene before we arrived, called 911 and requested assistance.  They lost the canoe after it sank and 2 paddles during the incident.  The canoe has not been recovered and no vessel identifiers were known at the time. 
  Both men were large in stature but without the canoe, there is no way to conclude if the canoe was overloaded or instability played a factor.
  Update: As of December 2017, no effort has been made to recover this vessel which made it a total loss changing the classification to reportable.
  
  This concludes the investigation.