Elgin teens escaped death in dangerous dam stunt

The overwhelming conclusion about two teens who rafted over the Kimball Street dam in Elgin Saturday, at least from the official standpoint, is that they were extremely lucky.

And also that the young Elgin men made a very poor decision in trying their stunt.

“Their lives were in danger whether they realized it or not,” Police Chief Jeff Swoboda said. “They were very lucky to have escaped this unharmed.”

Now the two 16-year-olds who went over the dam in an inflatable raft — without life jackets ... twice — and the 18-year-old who stood by to document their exploits will deal with the consequences of their actions.

The boys in the raft, whose names are not being released because they are juveniles, were charged with disorderly conduct after their trips over the dam. Ezequiel Arce, 18, of the 400 block of Hendee Street in Elgin, was charged with contributing to the delinquency of a child in addition to the disorderly conduct offense.

Four officers, two ambulances, two fire trucks, a boat, firefighters and a battalion chief responded at about 7:30 p.m. Saturday to the Kimball Street bridge after witnesses called 911.

While the police department doesn't have a particular fee it can charge the teens for launching the emergency response, a judge could impose extra fines related to the cost of tying up officers' and firefighters' time.

Mayor David Kaptain, who spent 31 years intimately acquainted with the Fox River and the Kimball Street dam as a chemist with the Fox River Water Reclamation District, said the young men may have been saved by the dry weather of late. He said the water level on the river is particularly low for this time of year.

The dynamics of the dam mean water rushes over and flows sharply downward, pulling anything nearby with it. When things — or people — get caught in that current, they are pulled down, pushed into the river floor or the dam, brought back up and sucked down again. The swirling water pattern is called a boil.

“Even experienced swimmers can't get out of there,” Kaptain said. “If that boat had tipped over they could have been in real serious trouble.”

Elgin firefighter Michael Whalen and fire Capt. Stanley Balsis both died in 1974 in an effort to save someone else who went over the dam on a bet. While the man was saved, Whalen and Balsis could not escape the powerful current. A memorial to both men stands on the southeast side of the dam.

Kaptain said the dam was modified a few years ago and, if plans for a hydroelectric project move forward, could be made even safer by reducing the strength of the boil. But up and down the Fox River are sites of horror stories like Balsis and Whalen's.

Arce's Larkin High School friends may have narrowly avoided being part of one.

“They were probably within inches of potentially killing themselves, quite honestly,” Swoboda said.

Arce, who is due in court at 9 a.m. May 11, did not return messages to comment on this story.