Pennsylvania EMS Official Hurt in Crash

WILKINSBURG, Penn. --

Emergency crews pulled a 12-year-old boy from a reservoir in Frick Park early Tuesday evening, and an emergency official en route to the scene collided with another vehicle in Wilkinsburg.

Authorities began searching for the boy at about 6:30 p.m. The boy either fell in or decided to go swimming in the hidden reservoir. It took a team of rescuers to find him and pull him out of the murky, freezing water.

More than a dozen Pittsburgh police officers, firefighters and paramedics dive right in to a hidden reservoir where a boy disappeared in the water.

Some rescuers didn't even know the creek and sewer drain existed. More than a dozen police officers, firefighters and paramedics dove right in.

"It was sewer drain runoff, it was rocky (with) all kind of boulders, and there's ranging probably 2-foot to 12-foot deep holes in there, everywhere," Pittsburgh fire Lt. Duke Mulvihill said. "Probably 10 firemen, various police officers, paramedics, we were all in the water just trying to randomly search."

"After about a five-minute search my partner, Adam Lewis, said he felt something, 'I think I have him.' He pulled him up and we brought him out of the water and we immediately started CPR," Pittsburgh police Officer Tom Broderick said.

Paramedics took the boy to Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh where he remains in critical condition.

Police said the boy was with cousins, who called for help when he went under and didn't come back up.

"It looked as though they were attempting to be in the trail area, utilizing the trails and, at some point, slipped into the water or either went into the water not realizing how deep or how fast it was moving," Pittsburgh police Cmdr. Rashall Brackney said.

"It's not a place for anybody to be swimming because of the drop-offs, the sudden drop-offs that you wouldn't expect it that you could go right under real fast," Broderick said.

Paramedic Official En Route To Reservoir Collides With Car

An emergency official en route to support the reservoir response collides with a car that turned in front of him in Wilkinsburg, police say.

The emergency intensified when a paramedic district chief en route to the reservoir collided with another vehicle on South Braddock Avenue at Forbes Avenue. The district chief was conscious when he was taken to UPMC Presbyterian. No one else was injured in the crash.

Authorities said the other car was traveling on South Braddock Avenue and turned in front of the chief's vehicle, which had its lights and siren activated, and struck a utility pole.

While other paramedics responded to their injured boss, emergency crews hoped for the best for the little boy in the water.

"We really don't know how long he was in there before we got there," Mulvihill said. "Hopefully, the cold water and our efforts, hopefully, something positive will come out of it."

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