Woman’s death in Berlin Lake probed

Staff report

Berlin Lake

Officials are investigating the death of a 51-year- old Youngstown woman found unconscious Sunday afternoon in Berlin Lake.

Susan Hernan, of Bouquet Avenue, was pronounced dead later.

Mahoning County sheriff’s officers were on routine patrol at the Mill Creek Recreation Center at Berlin Lake about 4:30 p.m. when they heard screams from the lake.

Officers saw a 6-year-old girl floating in a small, inflatable ring and an 8-year-old boy trying to hold on to it.

The boy was screaming, “Save me; I’m drowning,” according to the sheriff’s report.

A woman, later identified as Hernan, was next to the children face-down in the water, the report stated.

Deputies Steve Morlan and Jose Sanchez swam about 25 yards to the victims and pulled the three to shore.

They began CPR on Hernan and continued until almost 7 p.m., when she was pronounced dead.

The children were not injured.

“I would guess everything happened within a minute,” Morlan said of the time frame of distress.

He added that without witnesses, it is difficult to say whether Hernan was in the water when her grandchildren began struggling or if she was on shore and subsequently swam out to help them.

“We had two really close calls last week,” Morlan said. “But this is the first time we had to enter the water this summer, and this is the first time that I’ve ever rescued some-body from the water.”

This is Morlan’s fourth summer patrolling the area.