GROVE CITY, Ohio — The Franklin County Sheriff's Office is investigating the death of a 13-year-old boy who drowned in Big Darby Creek in the Grove City area last week.
Pleasant Township Fire Chief David Whiting said Wednesday's water rescue of the boy was difficult like most water rescues at the river, largely due to how difficult it is to find people along the large body of water.
“The biggest problem is where they actually are because we can get a report of people stuck In the water, but the river is so big and where do you go to and what location that they're at," Whiting said.
The boy was swimming with a friend when he went underwater around 4:30 p.m. on May 31. The friend thought he was playing at first, but then couldn't find him. He got out of the water and called 911.
“We had a gentleman from Trapper Jones got out in a canoe and he was searching. And as he found the young, young boy in the water, he was able to get him up and by then, we had our boat there, we got him in our boat, we did CPR,” Whiting said.
The boy was transported to a hospital and died three days later. According to Whiting, the water is about eight to nine feet deep where the boys went in and said the boy couldn't swim.
Whiting believes the boy was underwater for 20 minutes.
"A lot of times, they don't realize how deep it gets or how soon it draw how quickly it can drop off,” Whiting said.
Whiting encourages the use of life jackets and to make sure adults know where their children are at all times.