Onaway boy, 4, dies in drowning accident on Monday
WOLVERINE — The Cheboygan County Sheriff’s Department reported that a 4-year-old boy from Onaway drowned in the Sturgeon River on Monday afternoon.
According to a press release from the sheriff’s department, deputies and other first responders were dispatched to Lumberjack Park in Wolverine at 12:34 p.m. for a missing child. A Tuscarora Township Fire Department member who lives in the area arrived on scene and started a search of the shoreline of the Sturgeon River. Shortly after, the child was found unresponsive in the river. He was pulled to shore where first responders administered CPR.
The child, identified as James Patrick Zassadney, 4, from Onaway was rushed to Otsego Memorial Hospital by Cheboygan Life Support Systems. Despite life saving efforts, he was pronounced dead.
“This is heartbreaking, for anyone to lose a child, our thoughts are with the family at this time,” said Cheboygan County Sheriff Tim Cook in a statement.
Investigators determined that the boy’s father was in the park with his children when his son fell into the river.
“This was a situation where one minute you know where your child is and the next, they’re gone. It’s so unfortunate,” said Cook.
Assisting on scene was the Cheboygan County Dive Team, Tuscarora and Wolverine fire departments, Cheboygan Life Support Systems, Michigan State Police and the DNR.
— Contact Jillian Fellows at jfellows@petoskeynews.com.
This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Onaway boy, 4, dies in drowning accident on Monday
