Young boy clinging to life after being pulled from Prospect Park Lake
A young boy is clinging to life after he was pulled from Prospect Park Lake on Tuesday, police said.
The kid — who is believed to be 12 years old — was swimming in the Brooklyn lake with four friends when he disappeared beneath the surface around 5:30 p.m., witness George Huertas told The Post.
Huertas was fishing near the rowing launch ramp at 200 Well House Drive when the tragedy occurred.
“I hear the kids — they’re splashing and they’re playing and they’re just having a good time and then all of a sudden I hear them screaming and I hear ‘help’ and then I hear ‘ayuda’ in Spanish,” Huertas recalled.
The boy swam about 18 feet out from the bank, where the depth drops from roughly five feet to 12 feet, according to the fisherman.
The friends and Huertas initially thought the boy — who told his friends he was a strong swimmer — was fooling around before realizing he was actually struggling.
“One of them was hysterically crying, that’s when I knew this was really happening. It was horrible,” Huertas said about the moments before he called 911.
The boy was submerged for several minutes before emergency services and a passing good Samaritan retrieved his body from the lake, Huertas said.
EMS performed CPR before rushing him to NewYork-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital in critical condition, police said.
Police would not confirm the age of the boy, but his friends told Huertas that he is 12 and lives near Prospect Park.
Additional reporting by Craig McCarthy
