A 37-year-old Elyria man jumped into Coe Lake in Berea on Sunday evening and pulled a 7-year-old Cleveland boy from the water after watching him struggle near a dock and then slip underwater. The boy was taken to a nearby hospital for evaluation following the rescue, which unfolded around 7 p.m.
According to Cleveland.com, the boy and his family were at Coe Lake Park when the Elyria man noticed the child struggling to stay afloat near the dock. He saw the boy go under, jumped into the lake, and pulled him out of the water before calling police and giving the boy his own sweatshirt to keep him warm.
Police and paramedics arrived at roughly the same time as the boy's mother, grandmother and aunt, the outlet's report notes. The boy was taken to Southwest General Health Center in Middleburg Heights for further evaluation.
How the Boy Went Missing
The chain of events that led to the boy being alone near the water started with a momentary gap in supervision, per the same account. His grandmother had been watching him near the gazebo and boat launch, but when she stepped into a bathroom and came back out, the boy was gone. She called his aunt to try to locate him.
At the time, the boy's mother was in another part of the park with friends, while his aunt was at the Coe Park playground with her own child, the report states.
A Lake With a History of Rescue Drills
Coe Lake, located at 85 South Rocky River Drive, has been the site of organized emergency training before. In February, firefighters from Berea, Middleburg Heights, Brook Park and Olmsted Township gathered there for ice-rescue drills, with one firefighter telling Cleveland.com, “We try to do this every year.” Berea firefighter Jim Ryba said the training covered two phases — self rescue and victim rescue — and Berea police officers also took part, mainly to practice handling rescue tethers.
The City of Berea notes that the lake's AED had been temporarily removed because of construction renovations to the Dave Tressel Memorial Pool House, though it is not established whether that affected the response to Sunday's rescue.
Cleveland.com's earlier coverage of the fire department's training reported that the American Legion donated seven Ice Commander rescue suits, valued at roughly $1,500 apiece, to Berea's fire department.
No official police, fire or hospital records have been made available to independently confirm additional details of Sunday's rescue, and the boy's condition following his evaluation at Southwest General Health Center has not been disclosed.
