ROGERS -- A 17-year-old boy drowned Friday when the vehicle he was riding in slid off an icy road into Lake Atalanta.
Justin Richards, 18, was driving a 2006 Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo around the west side of the lake when it slid on the icy road, went down an embankment and into the water, said Keith Foster, spokesman for the Rogers Police Department.
Richards and a 15-year-old passenger in the back seat were able to escape the vehicle. The 17-year-old in the front seat was trapped in the submerged vehicle and didn't get out, Foster said. The teen later was pronounced dead at Mercy Hospital in Rogers.
Police didn't release the 17-year-old's name.
Richards and the 15-year-old walked to a nearby home where they called 911, Foster said. The two later were taken to Mercy for treatment, Foster said.
Richards told police the three teens were out driving around before the start of school.
All three attend Heritage High School, according to Ashley Siwiec, Rogers School District director of communications. The 17-year-old who died was a junior, she said.
"The counseling team has been assembled (at Heritage High) to help students and staff who are grieving. They are there today and into next week," Siwiec said Friday afternoon.
Rogers Fire Chief Tom Jenkins said rescue workers hoped for a miracle when the teen was pulled from the submerged vehicle after being in the water for three hours.
"He was clinically dead when he was pulled from the lake," Jenkins said. "We had already been on the phone with physicians developing a plan when we found him. We were hoping for the best."
Crews immediately began CPR on the teen, Foster, said.
Rogers firefighters and police officers were sent to the scene about 8:37 a.m. According to the initial report, a person was reported trapped in a vehicle that went into the lake. Two people had managed to escape, Foster said.
Firefighters in two boats were able to locate the vehicle and two Benton County Dive Team members found the vehicle 17 feet below the surface with its hood resting on an embankment, Foster said.
Richards and the 15-year-old said they were able to free themselves and swim to the shore. It then it took 20 minutes for them to walk to a house and telephone for help, Jenkins said.
The delayed notification was a challenge that confronted firefighters, Jenkins said.
The incident occurred on a rarely used road and it was difficult to get firetrucks and ambulances in the right locations, Jenkins said.
The accident is under investigation, Foster said.
NW News on 02/21/2015