A scary situation involving a runaway strolled brought an unexpected but ultimately happy ending to the Canal Fest week.
City of Tonawanda police Lt. Scott Sheehan said he and others on the City of Tonawanda’s Underwater Recovery Team were standing on a floating dock preparing for the evening’s fireworks display when they heard a mother’s screams. When he turned, Sheehan saw a stroller barreling down the grassy hill toward the canal, with the mother and father chasing behind.
“It seemed like it was rolling in slow motion, like in a movie,” Sheehan said.
The stroller rolled over the edge of the hill, tipping as it did, and catapulted an object into the canal. Sheehan and officer Bill Ferguson dived into the water after it, along with the father, who came off the hill and onto the dock with such momentum that he couldn’t stop. Sheehan said he got his hand on the stroller, but he’s not sure whether it was that impact or the rocking of the dock that stopped its movement. Regardless, the overturned stroller never made it into the water. The five year-old boy who was inside fell out sideways, and sustained only a few spots of road rash and a split lip.
“He was scared, but he was talking to us,” Sheehan said. “I couldn’t believe it.”
Chief Cindy Young, who was standing nearby on the hill, ran to ask the mother how many children were in the stroller. In her panic, the mother had trouble communicating that two other children were up the hill and safe. In the approximately thirty seconds of confusion, Sheehan and Ferguson continued to search for the object that flew into the water — now thought to have been a pillow or diaper bag — out of fear that it was a second child.
“Had that been an infant that went in, I’m confident we would have been able to rescue that baby,” Young said.
Ironically, the canal had been cleared of boats due to safety concerns about the fireworks display scheduled for later that evening. Young said moving the boats away from the dock meant the stroller wouldn’t have had anywhere to go but into the canal. And while Young, Sheehan and the others were planning for contingencies — thinking that perhaps someone who had drank one too many beers might take a tumble and end up in the drink — they never conceived of the one that presented itself. But all things considered, good positioning and quick thinking saved the day.
“We just happened to be in the right place at the right time,” Sheehan said.
Contact reporter Daniel Pye at 693-1000, ext. 158.
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