Hamilton boy’s death was an accident: police
Child who went missing found in culvert near home, reports say he may have been looking for his cat
An 11-year-old Dundas boy accidentally drowned in a roadside culvert not long after he wandered away from his home Saturday morning, Hamilton police say.
Finnigan Danne had left his Trudy Court townhome without his family’s knowledge at around 10 a.m. Saturday morning and died shortly afterward, Staff. Sgt. Marty Schulenberg said during a Monday news conference not far from the spot where the tragedy took place.
Danne’s body was discovered around 3:30 p.m. Sunday afternoon, not long after an Amber Alert was issued, but 27 hours after he was reported missing.
The small boy, who suffered from a neuromuscular disorder, was found submerged in water less than a metre deep inside the culvert, which is located less than 200 metres from his home. A citizen alerted police to something in the culvert Sunday afternoon, Schulenberg said.
Police said his death was an accident and no charges are pending. While police couldn’t confirm a time of death, they said it likely occurred shortly after Danne was reported missing.
Hundreds of people turned out over the weekend to search for the boy throughout the quiet neighbourhood. Police also used a canine unit and officers on horseback as part of the search effort. Danne, a small, thin boy, had limited mobility and walked with a noticeable limp.
According to a Canadian Press report, there’s speculation Danne may have been searching for his cat, which may have gone missing earlier Saturday morning.
The culvert, about 1.5 metres wide, carries a small stream from the north side of Ann Street under the road and then underground beside Sullivans Lane until it opens again in a small thicket between the first two houses on the dead-end lane. The buried culvert is about 70 metres in length.
The boy’s body was found closer to the Sullivans Lane end of the culvert, but Schulenberg wouldn’t specify how far from the edge of the culvert he was located.
“Sufficient to say that from the location at the exterior of the culvert where the search was being conducted, he was not visible,” Schulenberg said. Police are still unsure which end of the culvert Danne entered first, he said.
Hamilton police were asked why Danne’s body was not discovered sooner, given the large number of searchers and the presence of police and a canine unit.
“We had a number of occasions where the officers did search the culvert,” Schulenberg said. “They didn’t enter into the depths of the culvert.
“We were into a rescue tactic and not into a recovery tactic,” Schulenberg added. “That makes our tactics very different.
“We prioritize the resources we have given the areas that we believe are the highest probability to locate him,” he added. “Our mission was and always is in these cases to find the missing person as quick as possible in the best possible condition.”
Schulenberg said he also wasn’t aware of any searchers actually entering the culvert and walking through it at any point, adding that visibility was an issue even with flashlights.
The fact Danne’s body was submerged, Schulenberg said, would likely have impeded the ability of the canine unit to detect the boy.
Ilene O’Connor lives on Sullivans Lane, and the culvert opens along the edge of her property.
At one point, she said, she stood on a sewer grate on top of the culvert right beside the police dogs during the search.
“The dogs were sniffing and nothing,” she said. “The dogs didn’t react in any way.
“How they missed that is beyond me,” she added. “I don’t understand.
“We’ve lived here for 43 years and there’s never been anything like this,” O’Connor said. “It’s heartbreaking and it’s shocking.”
Her husband, Michael, said the cul- vert was installed nearly 40 years ago. He said there used to be grates at both ends, but they were moved about 15 years ago because they would get clogged with debris during heavy storms. Both ends are now open.
Police also faced questions about the decision to issue an Amber Alert more than a day after Danne was reported missing.
Acting Det. Sgt. Dave Brady said police eventually had to consider the possibility the boy had been abducted. “We believed that he would be in the area and that we should be able to locate him, that perhaps he was scared, he was hiding,” Brady said. “That’s the assumption we were going on.
“After several hours, and the rescue team was unable to locate him, we had to consider other possibilities and that was one of the possibilities we considered,” he said.
Michael O’Connor, however, refused to criticize the police.
“The police did the job that they’re supposed to do,” he said. “They did a thorough search.”
Tim Kennelly’s backyard is about 50 metres from where the boy’s body was found. He said he was surprised to learn Danne was found in the culvert.
“There’s no way someone didn’t look in that culvert,” said Kennelly, a teacher. “It’s the first place I’d look.
“With all the people around day and night — with flashlights — that’s what I don’t understand.
“I thought for sure this was going to end well,” he added.
As the community mourns, a group of local mothers is organizing a candlelight memorial for Danne.