Teen dies in icy Parker pond

Rescuers searched for 35minutes, as two other kids were taken to hospitals.

parker » One of three teenage boys pulled from an icy pond Thursday near Iron Horse Elementary School has died, and another was flown to Children’s Hospital.

Mayor Mike Waid made the announcement of the teen’s death “with an extremely heavy heart” on Facebook on Thursday night. He said the third teen is recovering at Parker Adventist Hospital.

“Please pray for them, their friends and their families,” Waid wrote. “Please tell those around you howmuch you love them and hold your family a little tighter tonight.”

Douglas County Schools said late Thursday that all three boys attended Legend High School. Paula M. Hans, district spokeswoman, said in a news release that a crisis team would be at the school beginning at 8 a.m. Friday to offer support.

Divers searched for one of the

teens for 35 minutes before the teen was pulled out from under the ice, said Lt. Chris Peters of the Parker Police Department.

A witness called 911 at 4: 28 p. m. reporting that she saw a teen struggling in the water.

The pond, surrounded by intermittent trees and brush hugging the edge, has signswarning to stay off the ice.

Authorities soon learned that three kids had fallen through the ice in the pond in a cul- de- sac nearTallman and Club drives, Peters said.

AParker police officer arrived at the pond first and extended a large branch to a teen and pulled the teen out of thewater and to the bank.

“Time was obviously of the essence,” Peters said.

Firefighters from South Metro Fire Rescue arrived moments later. At the time, two children were beneath the ice or the surface of the water and could not be seen.

“It was a pretty chaotic scene,” South Metro spokeswoman Becky O’Guin said. “When we arrived therewas one child on the bank, and we couldn’t see either of the other two.”

Four members of a dive team quickly dressed in their “ice suits,” put on their air tanks and entered the water. Other firefighters crawled onto the ice with poles and rescue ropes.

“It was a retention pond. Visibility was very poor. They had to feel their way with their hands, but they had a pretty good idea where they went through the ice,” O’Guin said.

Divers found the second child within a few minutes, O’Guin said. The child was rushed to a hospital immediately.

But it took the divers 35 minutes before they found the third child, Peters said.

“We’re really praying for him,” he said.

“It’s very sad. It’s something that people out here are not going to forget for a long time.”

O’Guin said she could not say whether the two children discovered beneath thewaterwere unconscious at the time.

As darkness fell, gashes in the frozen surface indicated where authorities had staged rescue operations.

To Sarah Viarrial, who lives with husband Derick and three kids a short distance away, the frozen surface has represented a potential danger.

Earlier, her children had been talking about wanting to toss rocks to break the ice — an activity both parents strongly discouraged.

“I haven’t seen anyone on it,” she said. “But Iwas terrified for my own kids. Any parent would be.”

The pond sits in a gulch that runs toward nearby Legend High School and in warmer seasons offers a place for kids to explore, said Derick Viarrial.

“Every once in a while you’ll see someone fishing fromthe bank,” he said. “It’s adventure land for kids back there in the summer. There’s all kinds of wildlife. It keeps going for miles.”

Neighbor KevinWinters, who lives on the same culdesac overlooking the pond, said he hasn’t noticed anyone venturing onto the frozen surface. “We don’t often see kids playing in or around it,” he said.