Carmen Johnson, 15, was a high school cheerleader who enjoyed life, got good grades and loved to be on the water.
It was a terrible accident on the water that took Carmen’s life on April 16, and her parents, Jimmy and Casey, are warning others about the potential dangers.
The Johnsons say Carmen, their youngest child, was electrocuted while swimming in the lake behind their home. Her parents told ABC News that the electrical currents came from rusty electrical work at the dock in their backyard.
It’s called electric shock drowning -- when a current, usually from a short circuit in the wiring of a dock, marina or boat, spreads through the water, and someone in the water is shocked and drowns.
Carmen's father,
Jimmy Johnson, said he initially thought something was pulling Carmen down into the water.
“I was in a position where I could have saved her if it would have been anything but electrocution in the water,” her father said.
In fact, Jimmy and his son, Zach, both jumped into the lake to try and save Carmen. They were nearly killed themselves.
“It was instant. It just grabbed hold of me,” Jimmy Johnson said of the electric shock.
Zach said, “It felt like your arm or leg is asleep and it hurts to move, and you can’t move, but it’s your entire body. And you’re trying to tread water but can’t swim."
The two were saved when
Casey Johnson ran and turned off the power switch. A friend who had been in the water with Carmen was also injured but she survived.
so tragic. 
