16-year-old found dead in pond after running from police
Sheriff expects darkness, ‘mucky’ water played roles
Bill Laytner
The youths saw police coming and they fled. Far too often, that’s a path to more trouble. It was fatal for a 16-year-old White Lake boy. His body was found in a pond Sunday night, after he tried to elude police by running into a wooded area.
White Lake officers had responded to an alarm and spotted the boy and another youth at about 2 a.m. Sunday as they climbed down from the roof of the Tractor Supply store on M-59 in White Lake, according to police. It’s unknown whether any crime had been committed. One youth was quickly apprehended nearby, but the 16-yearold ran into a wooded area behind the store and drowned in the pond, Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said.
“It was totally dark and he must’ve run unwittingly into the pond, which was very mucky. He was probably running fast, amped up, and he probably ingested a lot of water into his lungs when he fell in,” Bouchard said.
After the boy failed to return home, family members reported him missing on Sunday afternoon and Oakland County Sheriff’s Office organized a search, ultimately focusing on the pond, Bouchard said. The search team used the department’s water-scanning, sonar-type device to locate the youth’s body at about 10 p.m. on Sunday, submerged in about 5 feet of water, he said.
“It’s a huge tragedy,” pointing up the danger of trying to flee from police, Bouchard said.
“Even good kids make bad choices, and they usually get a second chance. This time, that can’t happen,” he said. The youth died only about a mile from his family’s house, in a wooded neighborhood studded with streams, ponds, wetlands and lakes.
The youth who died was Joseph Paduchowski, a junior at nearby Lakeland High School, “where he was a proud member of the varsity football team,” and an employee at Dave & Amy’s Restaurant in White Lake, his father,
Randy Paduchowski, said Tuesday.
When the son didn’t come home, Joe’s parents talked to his friend’s family “and we found out where the boys were” during the night, Randy Paduchowski said. He and his wife, Kathy Paduchowski, drove the short distance to the Tractor Supply store and looked into the woods from the rear parking lot, where their son’s friend had last seen him running.
“I looked in the woods and my wife looked in that little pond and said, ‘I think he’s in there.’ And I said, ‘I hope not because if he is, he’s dead.’ I think he just panicked and ran into the woods and fell face-first into that cold water. The medical examiner told us it would’ve been a quick death,” Randy Paduchowski said. Since then, Joe’s father said he returned to the Tractor Supply store to ask the manager if the boys caused any damage.
“He said all they did was throw a rubber mat and a piece of steel off the roof. And then, climbing down, they saw the police and ran. This was just boys being boys. I think they were just up there to screw around,” he said.
His son’s friend “is a good kid – they were close,” Joe’s father added. Visitation for the remembrance of Joe Paduchowski is set for 2-8 p.m. on Friday at Elton Black & Son Funeral Home, 1233 Union Lake Rd., White Lake. A funeral service is scheduled for 11 a.m. on Saturday at the funeral home, following additional visitation starting at 10 a.m.
Joe’s mother, Kathleen Paduchowski, asked that, in lieu of flowers, mourners send donations for the Lakeland Eagles Football Program, via PayPal to kath004@hotmail.com and that “100% of what is received will go to the program.” The parents said Joe’s experience on his school’s varsity football team filled all of them with pride. Besides his parents, Joe is survived by an older brother, Michael.
The tragic loss of life in White Lake bears an eerie similarity to another sad story, just over a month ago, in the wooded suburb of Plainfield, Indiana with about the same population as White Lake, outside Indianapolis.
There, on Nov. 7, according to the Indianapolis-based news site WTHR.com, a 19year-old man who fled from police after a minor traffic infraction drove into a pond and drowned before pursuing officers, who jumped into the water after the wrecked vehicle, could make a rescue.
Contact
Bill
Laytner:
blaitner@freepress.com