16-Year-Old Boy Dies After Being Pulled From Belvidere Pond
UPDATE: The Winnebago County Coroner has identified the 16-year-old boy who died after jumping into a Belvidere pond Tuesday as Braulio Hernandez.
The other day I was at a birthday party having a conversation with a 10-year-old girl; we were talking about summer break and all the things she'd been doing since school's been out and she caught me by surprise when she said, "I can't wait to go back to school." She explained that summer's "fun and stuff" but she missed seeing her friends.
Come the new school year, that little girl will happily return to school and spend cooler days with her friends and teachers. Unfortunately, a teen from Belvidere will not.
Yesterday, the Belvidere Fire Department was called to a pond near Spencer Park where they pulled a 16-year-old from under water; he'd been under for at least 30 minutes and was taken to a nearby hospital.
Sadly, the teen, who was on the track team at Belvidere North High School, didn't make it. What was a normal day for teens who were just trying to cool off on a hot summer day, turned to tragedy.
Local authorities want to remind both children and adults to pay attention to rules and warning signs at local parks, ponds and beaches.
We're sending our thoughts and prayers to the family at this extremely difficult time.