ELYRIA — A 5-year-old boy was clinging to life late Wednesday after nearly drowning at a Purdue Avenue home, Elyria police said.

At about 5:15 p.m., firefighters rushed to a house just down the street from the East Park Recreation Center, Elyria Assistant Fire Chief Ron Brlas said.

“When we got there, it appeared that the child drowned,” Brlas said. “He wasn’t moving, wasn’t breathing at all.”

Brlas said the boy was in an above-ground pool in back of the house, and his family didn’t know how long he’d been there.

The family found out about the boy when the boy’s father started screaming for help from a deck in the back of the house, a family member said. The boy’s father frantically performed CPR until paramedics arrived.

Another family member said the boy was spitting up water as he was taken to the hospital.

Police at the home wouldn’t comment. The name of the victim wasn’t available late Thursday.

A nursing supervisor at EMH Regional Medical Center said the boy was flown to MetroHealth Medical Center in Cleveland and was in extremely critical condition. MetroHealth Medical Center officials couldn’t be reached for comment, but Elyria police Sgt. Richard Ellis said the boy was alive as of 10 p.m.

Contact Jason Hawk at 329-7148 or jhawk@chroniclet.com.

 

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