A 6-year-old girl with nonverbal autism has died after emergency responders found her in an icy pond in Norton, according to authorities.
“This is not the day we were looking for,” Police Chief Brian Clark told reporters Friday evening. “We offer our thoughts and prayers to the family and certainly offer our condolences. It’s certainly a sad day in Norton.”
A parent called Clark’s department to report their daughter was missing at about 2:28 p.m., prompting an extensive search in the woods and around Barrowsville Pond and the Wading River.
Roughly an hour after the call, firefighters dove into the pond wearing Mustang Survival suits – gear that offers floatation and hypothermia protection in the event of water immersion, Deputy Fire Chief Jason Robbins said.
The divers had been in the water for roughly 12 minutes when they found the girl in the pond on the Barrowsville side of Power Street.
Emergency responders quickly performed CPR on the girl before rushing her to Sturdy Memorial Hospital where medical personnel pronounced her dead later Friday afternoon, Clark said.
The police chief added that every available officer responded to the scene before the department “quickly” called in the fire department to assist. The Massachusetts State Police and a “number of communities” provided mutual aid.
“You push the button as soon as you can,” Clark said on requesting support. “We wanted as many resources there as possible. … It’s a time when everybody’s heart is pumping: Where can we look? What can we do?”
The Bristol County District Attorney’s Office and Norton PD continued investigating the incident, which Clark said doesn’t appear to be criminal, Friday evening. Peer support has been deployed to help the emergency personnel who responded to the scene.
“It’s sad,” Clark said of the death. “She’s a little girl. A lot of police officers and firefighters who responded have children. It’s a big autism community. We are really sad that this happened.”
