Results tagged “foxriver”

Virginia Choice, the mother of Melvin Choice III, has filed a wrongful death lawsuit in the drowning death of her son. Melvin was one of three teens who drowned at an area camp last week when they sneaked out of their cabin and took a paddle boat on the river which then sank. The suit names VisionQuest (the leadership camp the boys were attending), YMCA of McHenry County (who runs Camp Algonquin where the drownings occurred), and North Lawndale College Preparatory High School (the school the boys attended) as defendants. The suit claims "the defendants failed to secure paddle boats or warn that the plugs on the bottom of the boats had been removed." The plug removals were part of the camps winterizing of the boats.

This weekend, Chicago Public Schools head Arne Duncan met with one of the families of the three boys who drowned last week in the Fox River during a leadership camp. Duncan sat down with the family of Jimmy Avant, who drowned attempting to rescue two of his friends whose paddleboat capsized; the boys were partaking in what one sheriff deemed "shenanigans" late last Thursday night when the incident occurred. Avant's mother, Sharon Gowdy, said:

They were all working hard. They all had great dreams…dreams are shattered now. He'll never drive a car. He'll never have a child. He'll never walk across a stage. He'll never go to college...They shouldn't have been allowed to sneak out there -- you know kids will be kids.

Duncan promised a full investigation into the incident, including how over a dozen students attending the camp managed to sneak out late at night undetected by the assigned chaperones and to educate teens on the potentially fatal hazards of such accidents. As that investigation continues, the CPS has announced that via its Children First Fund, it will provide $1,500 to each of the three boys' families to help cover funeral costs.

When an Elgin woman jumped into the Fox River attempting suicide yesterday afternoon, a group of onlookers called 911 to report the incident; rescue divers pulled the woman, still alive, from the river not far from the bridge where she jumped in. It was a decision that officials say was the right call. Elgin Deputy Police Chief Jeffrey Swoboda said, "People like that you don't want to get too close because you don't know what their mindset is. Just keep an eye on them until we can show up...It's normal for people to want to do that, but realistically, it just makes it more difficult for the fire department when they get here. That water's really cold and it can put you in shock really quick, and you're not going to be much of a help to somebody at that point." Karen Beyer, the executive director of Ecker Center for Mental Health in Elgin, agreed that direct action can be risky, but suggested talking to the person threatening suicide. "You might try to bring the conversation around someone in their life who depends on them and loves them and would be hurt deeply if they died and they know it."