Police rescue 7-year-old Mass. boy lost in swamp
Merrimac and Amesbury first responders rescued a 7-year-old boy who became lost in a swamp over a mile away from his home Friday evening.
Merrimac police and firefighters received a report about a 7-year-old boy who was missing from a home on East Main Street shortly before 7:40 p.m., authorities said in a press release. Several on and off-duty officers responded, including one K-9 officer and an Amesbury officer who offered to use a drone to aid in the search.
After an intensive search, they found the boy 1.3 miles away from his home, authorities said. He was waist-deep in a swamp and unable to move.
The officers freed the child and were led out of the woods with the help of some drones, authorities said. Merrimac firefighters treated the boy at the scene, but he was taken to a local hospital as a precaution.
Merrimac Police Chief Eric Shears spoke with the boy's mother Saturday morning, authorities said. She said her son is doing well and that she is 'extremely grateful for everyone who helped out, and all the officers and everyone involved were absolutely amazing.'
'I have never been prouder of the department, our mutual aid partners and our community,' Shears said in the release. ' ... Had this child not been located this quickly, I fear our community might have faced a tragic outcome. The professionalism, dedication and overall excellence of the team led to the best possible result in a very difficult situation.'
Springfield approves new 5,000-gallon tank to allow Peter Pan Bus to fuel vehicles
Springfield men indicted on drug trafficking charges in Vermont
Former President Biden diagnosed with aggressive prostate cancer
Cape Cod high school senior killed in car crash
Man chased victim, assaulted them with hatchet in Boston road rage incident
Read the original article on MassLive.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
9 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Immigrant shelter whistleblower asking DOJ to investigate 'disturbing pattern' at taxpayer-funded hotels
A former immigrant shelter director in Massachusetts is petitioning Attorney General Pam Bondi and the Department of Justice to launch an investigation into the "disturbing pattern" of criminal activity, sexual assaults and financial abuse that he says is widespread in the state-run migrant shelter system. Jon Fetherston, a former director of an immigrant shelter in Marlborough, Massachusetts, first blew the whistle about the widespread abuse in the shelter system after he discovered a Haitian migrant named Ronald Joseph, who was living in his shelter, had repeatedly raped and impregnated his 13-year-old daughter. Fetherston previously told Fox News Digital that as soon as Joseph heard he was losing custody of his daughter, he "reached across the table and grabbed me and got angry with me and started cursing and yelling and screaming and swinging at me because he realized what was happening." However, instead of being arrested immediately, Fetherston was directed to order Joseph a Lyft ride to another shelter in Worcester County. Joseph was not arrested until eight months in February. Us Attorney Alina Habba Announces Rep. Mciver Hit With Federal Charges Over Newark Ice Clash Though this case was particularly egregious, Fetherston said that "there is a lot of undocumented violence that goes on" and that rape, domestic violence, sex trafficking, drug dealing and other crimes are so commonplace in the Massachusetts shelter system that many incidents simply fall through the cracks. Read On The Fox News App Fetherston said, "The entire experience has shaken me to my core." In a letter sent to Bondi on Monday, Fetherston said that this was "not an isolated incident" but despite his raising the alarm, "there has been a deliberate wall of silence. No reforms. No accountability. Just more spin, stonewalling, and bureaucratic excuses." "This is a crisis — one that requires federal action now," he said. Fetherston is now asking Bondi to launch a full investigation into criminal activity and sexual violence within Massachusetts-run migrant shelters, widespread fraud and misuse of federal and state funds, the deliberate refusal to coordinate with federal law enforcement agencies and the pattern of retaliation against those reporting abuse, danger or misconduct. Republican State Ags Seek 'Game Plan' From Fbi, Doj Amid 'Growing Wave Of Antisemitic Domestic Terrorism' The former shelter director turned whistleblower said that "these crimes and failures cannot be brushed aside any longer," because "innocent people — especially children — are being hurt, and the people responsible are being protected by silence and political calculation." Fetherston placed much of the blame for rampant mismanagement and abuse in the shelter system on Massachusetts Democratic Gov. Maura Healey, who has been extremely critical of the Trump administration's immigration crackdown. In a statement to Fox News Digital, Fetherston said that "the impact of the Healey administration's hotel shelter policy has been devastating for both residents inside the shelters and the local communities surrounding them." "I personally witnessed traumatic incidents — including assaults, fraud, and serious mental health crises — with minimal intervention from the state," he said. Blue State Governor Sounds Off About 'Disturbing' Ice Operations On Affluent Liberal Islands "Families were placed in overcrowded, poorly managed facilities with little to no oversight, where safety was constantly compromised," he explained. "Local communities were never consulted, resulting in growing resentment and fear. Neighborhoods saw increased police calls, strain on emergency services, and the burden of absorbing hundreds of people without additional resources." He said the Healey administration's "lack of transparency and refusal to collaborate with municipalities left both residents and local officials in the dark, with serious consequences." He also claimed he has faced retaliation for speaking out, including "having my safety threatened, being publicly discredited, and physically targeted." "If you challenge the narrative, you're silenced," he said. "That culture of suppression has created a dangerous environment where truth is buried and accountability is nonexistent." Handful Of House Democrats Join Republicans In Sanctuary City Crackdown Healey's office did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment. Healey has previously expressed outrage and called for a full audit of the state's shelters after it was discovered that a 28-year-old illegal immigrant, Leonardo Andujar Sanchez, was discovered using a shelter to store an AR-15 and nearly $1 million in illegal article source: Immigrant shelter whistleblower asking DOJ to investigate 'disturbing pattern' at taxpayer-funded hotels
CBS News
11 minutes ago
- CBS News
Missing fishing boat found underwater off the coast of Cape Cod
It's a tragic ending to a search that had been ongoing this week, the sunken white hulled Seahorse was spotted about two miles off Brewster beaches by a recreational boater just before 2:00 Wednesday afternoon. Shawn Arsenault, 64, left his slip at Rock Harbor marina in Orleans Sunday morning to go clamming with his girlfriend. "He's been a fisherman all his life. He's ran many boats from New Bedford to Provincetown," said his brother Paul Arsenault. "He told me he wasn't coming back until he got his 30-bag limit." That usually takes only a day, but when his white Ford pickup truck was still in the marina parking lot two days later it raised concerns, including reports of unusual behavior the day he left the harbor. "The fact that he didn't come in with the tide that evening wasn't necessarily alarming. The curious part was that the day he left the harbor he was discarding waste off the side of the boat," said Orleans Harbormaster Nathan Sears. Discarded radar dome, GPS That waste included a radar dome, and a GPS found on a nearby beach. The harbormaster says his boat had recently been running rough, but repairs seemed to put him back in business. Now an investigation into how the thirty-foot fishing vessel Seahorse went down will answer many questions. Photo of the missing 30 foot fishing boat Seahorse. U.S. Coast Guard "These are quahog draggers, they're dragging big steel cages behind the boats. If they get hung up on the bottom, especially if you're fishing in the dark, they can roll the side of the boat and go down pretty fast," said Sears. The empty slip at the marina has been an eerie sight this week, and neighbors at his Orleans housing complex say they've been shaken by the news. "The community has been reaching out, giving hugs and saying prayers. We all just miss him so terribly," said Melissa Phillips. Arsenault's brother says his concern has grown by the minute and had this worry all along. "I'm beginning to think I'll never see my brother again," he said.
CBS News
16 minutes ago
- CBS News
Keller: Poll finds strong disapproval of how ICE handled arrest of Tufts student
The opinions expressed below are Jon Keller's, not those of WBZ, CBS News or Paramount Global. A new poll of three New England states including Massachusetts finds strong disapproval of how ICE is handling immigrant arrests. "Thank you everyone for all the support and love," said Tufts University graduate student Rumeysa Ozturk last month as she was freed after 45 days in ICE detention. But some supporters of Ozturk were in a less cheery mood after weeks spent working for the release of the student, hauled off the street by masked ICE agents for the offense of co-authoring an op-ed article in the Tufts student newspaper calling for an end to hostilities in Gaza. "She was never charged with any crime," noted ACLU Executive Director Carol Rose. "The government never produced any evidence that she had done anything wrong." The polls show continued support for President Trump's overall handling of immigration. But not for sending armed troops to the streets of Los Angeles, and definitely not for siccing ICE on the likes of Ozturk, whose arrest video made news all over the world. Poll shows disapproval Ozturk case A new Suffolk University/Boston Globe poll of voters in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Rhode Island finds a whopping 70% disapproved of the way her case was handled, with 58% strongly objecting. Just 16% approved. Surveillance video shows Tufts University student Rumeysa Ozturk apprehended in Somerville, MA, on March 25. CBS Boston "They like the intent, but they don't like the methodology," said Suffolk pollster Dave Paleologos. "She didn't creep over the border in the back of a van and meet up with some seedy characters to plot to protest and overthrow the government. It could be your niece, your nephew, your grandchild and that's troubling." It's an overreach even the most hardline backers of the president's immigrant crackdown find hard to swallow. "Even within the Republican party there's compassion and empathy and pushback in terms of how ICE is treating these cases," notes Paleologos. It's pretty clear that voters wanted something done about dangerous criminals here illegally. And now they're making it clear that a mild-mannered college student who co-wrote a benign op-ed piece isn't what they had in mind. But Paleologos suggests the proof will be in the crime statistics. If they take a nosedive, Trump will be widely applauded for his policies despite its mistakes. If they don't, more than a few will wonder -- what on earth was this all about?
