By Jim Newell
Review Editor
ORION TWP. — A five-year-old Orion Township boy with special needs appears to have drowned in a neighbor’s pool on March 25, the Oakland County Sheriff’s Office said.
After an extensive search, boy was found in a nearby above ground pool approximately two hours after he was last seen at home.
Oakland County Sheriff’s Office deputies were called to a residence on the 1100 block of Devon Street on Saturday shortly before 4 p.m. The boy’s grandfather reported that the boy was last seen at the home around 3:30 p.m. The rear door to the home was open.
The grandfather told deputies the boy had attempted to leave the home in the past.
The boy was wearing jeans and a sweatshirt but no jacket. The temperature at the time was 37 degrees Fahrenheit, the sheriff’s office report stated.
The sheriff’s office mobilized its Search and Rescue Team, two K-9 units and Orion Township Fire Department personnel and deputies began to search for the boy, going house to house and searching nearby woods, a lake and a swamp, the sheriff’s office reported.
Drones could not be used because of high winds in the area.
Firefighters found the boy laying on the cover of an above ground pool at a home on Crestmont Drive, about a block away from where the boy lived. The cover had at least one foot of standing water on it. There was a ladder on the rear of the pool the boy likely used to gain access to the water, the sheriff’s office said.
Paramedics immediately began performing CPR on the boy as he was transported to a nearby hospital where he died a short time later.
An autopsy was performed and the cause and manner of death are pending the coroner’s report, the sheriff’s office report stated.