BEAVER — A 22-month-old boy drowned Friday during a family gathering at a home near Lake Pleasant.
Steven Neel, the son of Jennifer Daman and James Neel of Forks, vanished only minutes after several family members had seen him, and was found in Lake Creek about 50 minutes later.
“It was literally within just a couple of minutes — they realized he was missing, and launched a search,” Clallam County Undersheriff Ron Peregrine said on Saturday.
“I can’t see a single thing that anyone could have done differently.”
The group phoned 9-1-1 at 5:16 p.m., about five minutes after they began looking for the boy.
All of the fire districts in Clallam County, the Lower Elwha Police Department, Forks Police Department, Clallam County Sheriff’s Department and the State Patrol immediately sent help.
But before the search teams arrived, the boy was found floating in Lake Creek just off of Lake Pleasant.
The family and friends who found him pulled him ashore and began cardiopulmonary resuscitation, or CPR.
Rescuers took over when they arrived, and Forks Community Hospital staff performed CPR for 2½ hours to try to restart the boy’s heart, Peregrine said.
“They were all lined up and ready to take over, as the one doing CPR would tire out,” he said.
“The people in Forks can be really proud of the effort put in by the medical staff at the hospital.
“This is one of the most magnificent medical efforts I have seen in many, many years.”
In addition to the agencies who responded, many people who live in the Beaver area were out searching for the boy.
“As soon as they realized he was gone, everyone was out looking for him,” Peregrine said.
“This is a real tragedy, because there really isn’t anything more that anyone could have done.
“It just happened.
“They did everything they possibly could have.”
Although the investigation is still open, Peregrine said there is no evidence of foul play.
No funeral service information was available on Saturday.
The death is the second fatal drowning of a small child in Clallam County this year.
Dylan Almaden, 3½, a Joyce child, drowned in a pond near his home on March 2.
