19-05-2025
Friends attempted to save 12-year-old boy who drowned in Monongahela River
New information has emerged after a 12-year-old boy drowned in the Monongahela River in Donora over the weekend.
Some of his friends tried to save his life.
Mom Kristen Sutton considers her 14-year-old son a hero.
She says he didn't give it a second thought and bravely attempted to save his friend, Rontae Lester, while they swam.
"It broke my heart," Kristen Sutton said. "I'm glad I taught my son that if an incident happens, don't panic, do what you can."
Sutton says she got a weird feeling Saturday morning, not long after her son, Jayden, left home with his friends to hang out at the river.
She called him to make sure he was okay. When he told her he was on his way home already, she knew something was wrong.
"They were swimming, having a good old time, and then, tragic," Sutton said. "By the time they got a chance to look, the older brother was already sucked under the water and taken with the current."
Sutton said the boys immediately called 911 when their 12-year-old friend disappeared.
Within minutes, rescue operations began. Hours later, crews found the child along the riverbed near East First Street.
Sutton says she's still in shock.
"My kids grew up by the river. They knew the dangers, they knew what to look for, what not to look for," Sutton said.
Sutton says she wishes more parents would educate their children on water safety.
Even though her kids know how to swim, she says this is a prime example of how river currents are so strong that they can carry away even the most experienced swimmers.
"I'm definitely hesitant now, for sure, to send my child down by the river by himself," Sutton said. "From now on, life jackets. You don't know if the current is strong that day. You don't know. You don't know if it's not. If it's fast, slow. You just don't know."
Lester went to school in the Ringgold School District.
Officials told KDKA-TV that grief counselors would be available Monday to talk with the students.
