Todler found alone in boat, Father Presumed Drowned

[dmp]

MERCER ISLAND - A man who went fishing with his 3-year-old son and two dogs vanished in Lake Washington and likely drowned, fire officials in this Seattle suburb said.

Two men in a boat found the little boy with a dog in a motorboat and another dog in the water nearby shortly before 3:30 p.m. Sunday about 200 yards off Luther Burbank Park near the northern end of the island, according to police and a Fire Department news release.

The child indicated that one of the dogs bounded into the lake and that his father, William Ross Taylor, 37, of Kirkland, went after the dog without a life preserver but failed to return in an area where the water is about 40 feet deep.

About 30 yards from the boat the men found a pair of shoes, police Sgt. Leslie Burns said.

The men called 911 and brought the boy to shore.

Divers from the Coast Guard, King County, Mercer Island and several other municipalities searched without success in the murky water until nightfall. Sonar and underwater camera technology was being lined up for the resumption of the search Monday morning.

"The problem is that we don't have a positive starting point in the search," Burns said. "It's like looking for a needle in a haystack."

Police cared for the boy until his mother was contacted and picked him up shortly before sunset.

http://www.komotv.com/stories/39136.htm

Couple of thoughts on this story.

At first I thought:

That man was an idiot.

Then:

Can you imagine how scared that little boy could have been? Drifting helplessly alone?

Then:

I can't IMAGINE why that man would have dived into the water - and never come up - after a dog. I don't know of a single dog which couldn't swim.

Then:

I feel very sorry for this little boy...

 

[GotZoom]

Couple of thoughts on this story.

At first I thought:

That man was an idiot.

Then:

Can you imagine how scared that little boy could have been? Drifting helplessly alone?

Then:

I can't IMAGINE why that man would have dived into the water - and never come up - after a dog. I don't know of a single dog which couldn't swim.

Then:

I feel very sorry for this little boy...

Tragic. Sad.

And the mom...coming to get her son..after all that. Knowing her husband is probably dead..but her son survived (he could have easily "gone in after daddy").