Local News

S. Side Family Questions Drowning of Child

CHICAGO (CBS) ― A South Side family is mourning the loss of a five-year-old Saturday night.

The little boy fell into Lake Michigan on Thursday, and rescuers found him some 20 minutes later. It turns out the child was in the care of a family friend – a man that the family trusted, since he's a father himself, as CBS 2's Pamela Jones reports.

"I've just got nothing but memories – nothing but memories," said Rena Pulliam, an aunt of the victim. "I'll never see my nephew again, he'll never run and give me hugs and tell me he loves me."

Pulliam, the aunt of five-year-old Ronald Evans, clings to his photo. She says he was playing near the water at the harbor at 63rd Street, when he fell into Lake Michigan.

Evans' family says one of his mother's childhood friends offered to take the kids to the beach.

"He had came over and asked if he could take the kids to watch fireworks and shoot off fireworks and he was going to the beach," Pulliam said.

Saturday, near the scene, families say the accident is a painful reminder of how closely they have to watch children near the water.

"I keep them right here by me," said 16-year-old beachgoer Tiara Weatherall. "I watch them and they know not to go over there by the water."

Ronald Evans' family tells CBS 2, his mom and dad now face the additional anguish of not being able to afford to bury him. They're in the process of setting up a fund and they hope the community will help.

Evans' big sister was there when he drowned. Now she and her mother are questioning why the man entrusted with the kids' care somehow let the little boy slip away.

"My sister trusted him with her child and he never came back home and it's killing my sister that she let her baby go," Pulliam said.

Evans was pronounced dead at Chicago Comer Children's Hospital. His death has been ruled an accident.

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