Richmond grapples with teen’s drowning
Deceptively calm Brazos River takes another young life
RICHMOND — It had been another hot, sticky August day when 16-yearold Aleksei Holman decided to join his friends by the Brazos River. He hurried to finish his chores and left his north Richmond home, telling his mom he was going to spend time with friends outside.
“And that was the last time I saw him,” she said, slapping her paper fan on a table in front of her. “Oh, I should have stopped him.”
Many agree the Brazos is not suited for swimming. Its current can look gentle on the murky brown surface, but strong currents can be moving below. Dangerous debris, such as logs or waste or full trees, also is
carried along swiftly.
Holman’s mom, 38-yearold Brigitte Foster, said she never would have knowingly let her firstborn son swim there. But there are no other public options for swimming in the predominantly black and Hispanic community, located across the railroad tracks from the rest of Richmond. The neighborhood is bounded by the river on all other sides.
Holman’s choice proved fateful: At 7 p.m. Monday, his friends began calling 911 to report that the teen had gone underwater. He had not surfaced. They would soon learn he drowned.
Body found after dark
Richmond has the county’s only diving team, Richmond Fire Chief Mike Youngblood said. They loaded boats into the water where it is accessible downstream and made their way up to the scene of the accident.
Rosenberg Police, Fort Bend County Sheriff ’s Office deputies, a Department of Public Safety helicopter and the Richmond Police Department meanwhile also reported to the scene, Richmond Police Lt. Lowell Neinast wrote in an email.
The river is accessible from George Park in north Richmond, though vegetation there grows thick and no path for swimming is marked. A parks master plan was recently updated to include future public spaces with splash pads, City Manager Terri Vela wrote in an email. Still, as residents remember it, a city pool was paved over in the 1960s as integration loomed.
In all, 22 kids had been swimming in the Brazos, Neinast wrote. Every one was accounted for — except Holman.
It nearly mirrored an incident on Aug. 12, 2011, when 17-year-old Benjamin Ola drowned in the river. A lifeguard, he had been swimming with teammates from the Travis High School football team after a morning practice.
First responders located Holman’s body using sonar technology around 10:30 p.m., about 50 feet from where the group had been.
Divers do not usually enter the water after dark, but Youngblood said he gave the all clear for them to do so. He trusted the divers to evaluate whether it was safe. Plus, none of them would have slept as the storms rolled in, knowing their job was not done, he said.
Holman’s mother and grandfather got updates from other kids as the search unfolded. Two divers, harnessed and working between two boats, recovered the body within seven minutes after locating it, Youngblood said. It was 4 a.m. Tuesday by the time they returned to the department, and the river had begun to rise.
‘For some purpose’
On Tuesday evening, those who knew Holman grappled to understand how he could be taken from them so soon.
“His death has to be for some purpose,” said his grandfather, 65-year-old Ralph Foster.
Standing on the porch of their brick home, he and Holman’s mother recalled the teen’s big smile. How he was still trying to learn how to pop a wheelie on his bike. The times he accompanied his grandfather on his airconditioning jobs, eager to experience all he could.
Holman was entering his third year at Lamar Consolidated High School, school counselor Kathryn Hines said. He was remembered there as friendly, calm and well-behaved, with a close group of friends. Hines said she trusted that those friends did their best to help.
“When they said they tried, I believe they tried,” she said.
Deceptive river
The river Monday flowed at a relatively low rate but was still dangerous, said Jeff Janecek, assistant engineer at the Fort Bend County Drainage District. “Even at a low flow, there’s a pretty good current,” Janecek said.
The fire chief noted, too, that the river could be deceiving.
“Sometimes the river looks inviting,” he said. “It’s always risky.”