Waukegan High School Student Drowns In Lake Michigan
WAUKEGAN (STMW)--A Waukegan High School student died on Monday after he reportedly jumped into Waukegan Harbor from near the Waukegan Yacht Club.
Lake County Coroner Artis Yancey identified the deceased as Rasheed Mariano, 17, of the 600 block of Lenox Avenue in Waukegan.
An employee of the Yacht Club saw the young man walking across the parking lot around 1 p.m. and then heard a scream. When firefighters arrived, they had a good "last seen" location, according to Steven Lenzi, fire marshal with the Waukegan Fire Department.
"It was just outside the Yacht Club. Don't know what he was doing. We got two divers down there and within five minutes, they located him," Lenzi said. Mariano was located in approximately 18 feet of water and about 10 feet north of the Yacht Club pier.
The victim was rushed by ambulance to Vista Medical Center East in Waukegan, where he was pronounced dead.
The youth was underwater for about 30 to 40 minutes, Lenzi said. Recoveries in cold water can sometimes be successful if the victim is submerged for up to an hour and, in some cases, 90 minutes.
The fire department did not have a boat in the water, so firefighters used a ladder truck and a rig assembly as a crane to lift the body out of the water.
When Lake County Sheriff's deputies arrived, witnesses told them they had seen a teen walking through the Yacht Club parking lot. Witnesses further reported the victim then began running down the pier, eventually jumping into Lake Michigan.
(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2012. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
