Teen who fell through ice at Lansing gravel pit dies at Ann Arbor hospital
LANSING − An Oakland County teen who fell through the ice at a Lansing gravel pit on New Year's Eve died last week, and officials are urging people to be extra careful if they go on or near the ice over the upcoming holiday weekend.
"I'd go as far as to say, from the Lansing Fire Department's perspective, there is no safe ice in the southern part of the state right now, and no one should be on that ice," Assistant Lansing Fire Chief Michael Tobin said Friday.
Paul Sanders, 15, of Southfield, died Jan. 4 at University of Michigan Hospital in Ann Arbor, the Oakland Press reported. He died a few days after a dive team pulled him from a gravel pit in the area of Stoneleigh Drive, just east of Hawk Island Park.
The Royal Oak High School freshman was at the gravel pit with his older brother and a third person when the tragedy happened, the newspaper said.
Tobin said firefighters were called to the 3700 block of Stoneleigh around 3:20 p.m. for a person falling through the ice on a pond. They arrived to find one person partially on shore and a second person in the water, holding onto an ice floe, he said.
The responders helped the first two victims to safety and called in the regional dive team to search for a third victim. The 15-year-old boy was taken from the water about 40 minutes later, Tobin said.
Tobin listed the victims' ages as 15, 16 and 17. All three were taken to Sparrow Hospital, and the 15-year-old was transferred to U of M Hospital, where he later died, he said.
The state Department of Natural Resources said a similar incident occurred Sunday in Newaygo County and issued a warning about potentially unsafe ice during a mild winter.
A 21-year-old Grant man and a conservation officer were treated for hypothermia following a difficult ice rescue at Blanch Lake, officials said in a news release.
"As anxious as we all are to enjoy our favorite winter activities, the unseasonable winter has created unstable ice conditions throughout much of the state, particularly in the Lower Peninsula," said Dave Shaw, chief of the DNR's law enforcement division. "Everyone should use extreme caution when on or near the ice, consider wearing a personal floatation device and have ice picks easily accessible. There is no such thing as safe ice."
The Grant man was in the water, hanging onto the edge of the ice at least 50 yards from shore, when conservation officers arrived. With help from the Newaygo Fire Department, the officers were able to rescue the man, although one of the officers ended up in the water, officials said.
The two people who went into the water have been released from the hospital.
In a letter to parents, a Royal Oak school official said Sanders' family wanted people to know that “Paul passed away as a hero trying to save someone else’s life after falling into a pond …,” the Oakland Press reported. Paul's older brother, Romal, "jumped into the situation and fought for Paul’s life, which allowed Paul to be taken to the hospital in time for doctors to assist him," the official said.
As of Friday, a crowdfunding campaign started by Sanders' family had raised more than $19,000.
Contact Ken Palmer at kpalmer@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @KBPalm_lsj.
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Teen who fell through ice at Lansing gravel pit dies at Ann Arbor hospital
