A 14-year-old Utah boy with autism died Monday after he fell through the ice while fishing at a pond — all the while his family believed he was at a friend’s house, according to police and reports.
Sam Creel and a buddy were at Glasmann Pond in the city of Ogden Monday when the ice caved in, plunging both of them into the freezing waters.
While the surviving peer was quickly rescued and taken to a local hospital, Creel was pulled from the water about two hours later and died at Primary Children’s Hospital in Salt Lake City after he was airlifted there, authorities said, Fox 13 reported.
His parents were notified about the accident around 5 p.m., but didn’t make it to the hospital before he was pronounced dead, the station reported.
“We lost our little boy last night,” stepfather Nathan Gidley told the station.
“He didn’t tell us where he was going. He told Grandpa that he was going to a friend’s house but that wasn’t where he was going.”
Creel had autism and didn’t know how to swim. His parents never met the friend he was fishing with.
“He always came home,” Gidley told the station. “I’m going to miss him so much.”
The ninth-grader had dreams of becoming a police officer.
“He was a loving big brother, who enjoyed spending time with his little brother,” an aunt of Creel wrote on a fundraising page.
“He also liked playing video games, working on computers and the outdoors. Samuel loves his toy police car and has expressed interest in becoming a policeman.”
Ogden City deputy fire chief Mike Slater warned people to stay away from water because they don’t know how thin the ice might be.
“Sometimes, you may get some snow on top of the ice and it can be deceiving,” he told KUTV.
“It may look thicker than it is. Like I say, you never know where the flowing water is.”
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