Youngstown boy, 10, drowns

Lifeguards and paramedics couldn't resuscitate the boy on the shore of the lake.
By IAN HILL
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
CANFIELD -- A 10-year-old Youngstown boy drowned Thursday after he slipped off an inner tube into the lake at Yellow Duck Park.
Raylan Weaver, of Hunter Street, had been listed in critical condition Thursday evening at Forum Health Tod Children's Hospital, where he died at 11:07 p.m., according to the Trumbull County coroner's office.
Park owner Len McGarvey said Raylan fell off an inner tube into the park's swimming lake at about 3:45 p.m. Thursday. Raylan was about 35 feet from shore playing with several other children in a section of the lake that is between 4 and 5 feet deep, McGarvey said.
A spokesman for the Mahoning County Sheriff's Department said the boy was at the Green Township park with his mother and stepfather.
What happened: One of the children playing near Raylan swam to shore and notified a lifeguard that the boy had not come up for air.
The sheriff's spokesman said the lifeguard spent 10 minutes pulling Raylan to shore. The park's staff called paramedics.
McGarvey said Raylan wasn't breathing when he was brought to shore and efforts by the lifeguard and the paramedics to resuscitate him were unsuccessful. The child was then taken to Salem Community Hospital and later transferred by mobile intensive care unit to Tod's.
"Everyone feels pretty shaken up," McGarvey said of the park's staff Thursday evening. As he spoke, a lifeguard sobbed loudly in the park administration cabin.
Yellow Duck Park, a private water park on state Route 46 south of Canfield, was open for business today.
Other details: McGarvey said that there hasn't been a drowning at the park during the last 27 years. He said eight lifeguards were on duty at the park Thursday, including four lifeguards near the swimming pools.
The park also has water slides, sprinklers and small swimming pools. Hundreds of people used the park Thursday, McGarvey said.
McGarvey said the section of the lake where Raylan fell off the inner tube was closed after paramedics left the park.
The sheriff's department is investigating.
hill@vindy.com