DIVERS RECOVER DROWNING VICTIM

Elyria – Chief Richard Benton of the Elyria Fire Department announced Sunday morning at an 11 a.m. press conference that Divers have recovered the body of 13-year-old Logan Spradlin. “Operations resumed at 8 a.m. this morning and at 10:33 a.m. Divers were able to locate the victim. There were some false reports going around last night that the Sonar located the young man – actually what the Sonar was picking up was some of the debris that was in the water.”

Benton today reiterated his warning about the dangers of the Black River. “Parents need to explain to their children the hazards of being by the river. It’s hard to keep track of your kids at all times so you hope that they listen to the things that you tell them – but sometimes it’s just too tempting for them to go down there.”

Firefighter / Dive Specialist Dean Marks from the Elyria Fire Department said that although the water was cold yesterday (51 degrees) they only had about an hour to make a rescue. “The cold water would help you survive longer but after about 45 minutes to an hour your chances of survival decrease.”

Marks was the first Diver in the water this morning, he said that it was important to the team they had assembled to recover the boy to help bring closure to the family. Marks also spoke about how the task of recovering the body of a young man affects the Firefighters & Divers. “I don’t want to say that you become immune to it, essentially you know you have a job to do so your focus is on the job. You know you’re going in there for a victim but you try to keep them nameless and faceless. It’s once you locate the victim that it hits you. A majority of the guys have families and we know it could just as well be one of our kids. I think it’s at that point that it really hits you – especially since we couldn’t find him last night. We felt it a duty to get back in there this morning and get him out of there for the family.”

Marks said that all of the Divers were conscious of the fact that the boy’s family was gathered on the observation decks above watching the operation this morning. “We’re all parents and we have loved ones too and like I say we know it could just as easily have been one of our kids. So although it is our job, we also have emotional ties to the operation as well.”

Moments before the boy’s body was brought up the hill Chief Benton spoke with the family and suggested that they leave the site and head for the hospital before he was

Benton said that Firefighters and Divers involved in the operation would go through a debriefing immediately following the press conference.

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