A 5-year-old autistic and nonverbal boy has drowned in a stormwater retention pond behind an apartment complex in the Northdale area of Tampa, Florida. Authorities said the child managed to leave the family's apartment on his own and reached the water nearby, where he was later found. What began as an urgent search for a missing little boy ended with deputies recovering him deceased.
According to the account provided by authorities, the father last saw his son at around 5 a.m. The child sleeps with him, and the father had been trying to get the boy to drink something. When the child did not want it, the two of them fell back asleep. The father woke up at about 9 a.m. and, after looking around, could not find his son inside the apartment.
Becoming increasingly worried, the father searched outside and noticed that the screen on the screened-in patio area had been broken and pushed open. Uncertain of what to do, he first called his mother, the boy's grandmother, an elementary school teacher with whom the family lives, to check whether the child might be with her. When he learned the boy was not with her, he then called the sheriff's office at around 9:30 a.m.
The response was immediate and large. Officials said more than 140 deputies arrived at the scene, supported by the agency's aviation unit, drone deputies, a canine team and a dive team. Deputies and supervisors who reached the complex quickly recognized that there were several bodies of water on the property and made the decision within seconds to call in the canine and dive resources.
During the search and rescue effort, the canine repeatedly circled a retention pond located about 30 feet behind the apartment. Based on the dog's behavior, the dive team was directed to begin there. A dive team member entered the water, which was only about five feet deep, roughly waist high. The boy had traveled no more than about 25 to 30 feet from the broken patio to reach the pond.
Authorities said the outcome was not the one anyone had hoped for, as the search ended with the recovery of the deceased 5-year-old. Officials underscored a troubling detail: this was the second autistic child recovered drowned at the same apartment complex in the Northdale area in less than two months. The other 5-year-old who drowned had lived in the rear of the complex, in a separate incident.
The victim had just turned five, and his family had been in a swing of celebrations, including his acceptance into an elementary school suited to his abilities and learning style. Instead of preparing for the first day of school on Monday, the family now has to plan a funeral. Speaking with the boy's grandmother, deputies said her one request was to urge everyone, regardless of a child's age or special needs, to get them swim lessons.