Police: Near drowning not a criminal matter
The McHenry County sheriff's office says it is not investigating the near-drowning of a 1-year-old girl on the Fox River Tuesday afternoon as a criminal matter.
Aimee Knop, public information officer for the sheriff's office, said the department responded to the matter in unincorporated McHenry County near McHenry as a medical assist.
A news release on Wednesday said the child's mother went to the second floor of the home on the 2100 block of Colby Drive for a “brief amount of time,” leaving three children on the first floor.
When the mother returned, the three children were no longer inside. She found two near the river and the 1-year-old girl in the water. Authorities could not provide the ages of the other children and did not know how far it was from the house to the river. The department also did not release the child's name.
The sheriff's office was required by law to report the matter to the Department of Child and Family Services, but sheriff's officials said it is not investigating a criminal matter.
An off-duty paramedic who was fishing nearby heard the mother screaming as she pulled the unresponsive girl from the water. Joel Arnier, a firefighter-paramedic with the Addison Fire Department, was able to resuscitate the girl, who was blue when removed from the water.
Initially, mouth-to-mouth resuscitation failed as the girl's lungs were so full of water, Arnier told the Daily Herald on Tuesday. Arnier was able to pump the river water from the girl's lungs by chest compressions.
Nunda Township firefighters and paramedics were first to arrive on the scene about 1:15 p.m.
The girl was taken to Centegra's Northern Illinois Medical Center in McHenry before being transferred to Rockford Memorial Hospital in a stable condition on Tuesday.
A condition update from Rockford Memorial Hospital was unavailable Wednesday.
Knop said the sheriff's office is reviewing the report to determine if Arnier would be eligible to receive a Citizens Lifesaving Award, one of the highest commendations from the McHenry County sheriff's office.