Boy rescued after nearly drowning

By Craig Smith

Connecticut child recovering at Glens Falls hospital. The boy was underwater for about two minutes before being pulled out by his father.

LAKE GEORGE, N.Y., Aug. 27 - A ten-year-old Connecticut boy is recovering at Glens Falls Hospital after nearly drowning in a Lake George motel swimming pool. Joseph VanDermeulen is alive thanks to some on-the-spot medical care.

EMS CREWS have been busy this year. This time they got the result everyone wanted. "Yes, we've had a tough summer, as everyone knows, but we won one last night," said Grant Gentner, the first member of Lake George EMS to arrive at the Lyn Air Motel on Route 9.

According to a statement to investigators from VanDermeulen's father, he and his son were in the hot tub when he allowed the boy to go in the shallow end of the pool. A couple minutes later, Mr. VanDermeulen slid into the pool. He then got out and was going to jump back in when he noticed something that looked like a body at the bottom of the deep end.

"How [the boy] got from the shallow end to the deep end is something we'll probably never know, but obviously he got into some trouble," Warren County Sheriff Larry Cleveland said.

The boy's father pulled him out, put him on the pool deck and called for help. About minute after receiving the 911 call, Gentner was at the pool. "He wasn't berating. So you always have the possibility of going into a full arrest, which is cessation of breathing and heart activity. He could have succumbed," Gentner said.

Everyone who worked on this case is feeling good about the outcome, especially after such a rough summer. "Yeah, we've had a deadly summer with water related fatalities and several drowning deaths," Cleveland said.

In the six weeks between June 9 and July 25, Lake George had five water-related fatalities. One was a boating accident. The others were drownings. Joseph VanDermeulen is in fair condition.