Greece police said a scuba team recovered the body of a 5-year-old girl who drowned after being separated from a family member.
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| Greece Police Chief Patrick Phelan says that police recovered the body of a 5-year-old girl after she was with her family near the canal. Keegan Kelly, Democrat and Chronicle |
By Ryan C Miller, Democrat and Chronicle
A scuba team recovered the body of a 5-year-old girl from the Erie Canal in Greece on Thursday evening.
The Greece Police Department responded to a call at 7 p.m. for a missing 5-year-old girl at Henpeck Park on Ridgeway Avenue, according to Police Chief Patrick Phelan. The girl's body was found less than two and a half hours later.
[post_ads]The girl was briefly separated from a family member and was last seen in the area near the Erie Canal. It was believed that she may have fallen in the water, police said.
Phelan said there weren't any witnesses and no one saw the girl enter the water, so it's not known if she jumped or fell in.
"The child was with family members and was last seen next to the shore of the canal," Phelan said. "The family member that was with her lost sight of her for a few minutes. They had been separated by some degree of space so she wasn't looking directly at her and the child was no longer there."
Police blocked off a stretch of Ridgeway Avenue as first responders from several agencies were on the scene for a massive search.
"It's extremely hard. It's a 5-year-old girl," Phelan said. "It's very difficult on all the first responders and there's not sense to be made in the death of a 5-year-old little girl.
"I feel so badly for the families."
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There was a large police presence near Henpeck Park and Greece police received assistance from New York State Police, the Monroe County Sheriff's Office and several fire agencies, including the Ridge Road Fire District and Spencerport Fire Department. helicopter circled the area above the canal while scuba teams conducted the search in the canal.
The Monroe County Sheriff's Office scuba team located the body of the child in the canal. The Rochester Police Department scuba squad was also on scene.
"I really do appreciate so many local agencies deploying so quickly to try to find this child. Fire, EMS, police resources," Phelan said. "I just appreciate all the assistance. When a child is in trouble first responders come out of the woodwork and do everything they can and these people did everything they could."
Police are investigating how the girl ended up in the water. The girl's identification has not been released, pending notification of family members.
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