A 15-year-old boy from Brooklyn died Saturday after he was pulled from the water at Fawn’s Leap in Hunter, where authorities said he became trapped by a powerful hydraulic current at the base of the falls.
The apparent drowning happened at about 11:57 a.m. April 18 at the popular but unsanctioned swimming spot on Kaaterskill Creek, according to the Greene County Sheriff’s Office.
Investigators said the boy was swimming with a group of friends, also from Brooklyn, when he jumped from a lower ledge near the base of the waterfall. The hydraulic current was too strong for him to swim out, the sheriff’s office said.
Three friends entered the water in an attempt to pull him out, but they were unable to reach him and also began to get pulled under, according to the sheriff’s office.
A New York State forest ranger, identified by the DEC as Ranger Peterson, reached the boy and pulled him to shore. Jeff Wernick, a public information officer for the DEC said the ranger arrived at about 12:05 p.m., correcting an earlier joint statement from the DEC and the Town of Hunter that said the response began at about 12:30 p.m.
By the time the boy was brought to shore, he had been in the water for more than 20 minutes, the sheriff’s office said. Greene County Paramedics and Hunter Area Ambulance personnel began lifesaving measures at the scene.
He was taken to Columbia Memorial Health, a hospital in Hudson, where resuscitation efforts were unsuccessful and he was pronounced dead, according to the sheriff’s office. An autopsy was scheduled for Monday.
The sheriff’s office said it was assisted at the scene by Town of Hunter Police, New York State Police, New York State Forest Rangers, Haines Falls Fire Department, Greene County Paramedics, Hunter Area Ambulance, and Tannersville Fire Department. The roadway was closed for about an hour during the rescue and recovery effort.
The Greene County Sheriff’s Office is continuing to investigate.
Fawn’s Leap, a popular but unsanctioned swimming hole in the Catskills, has been the site of other serious accidents in recent years, including the drowning of a 16-year-old boy in 2023 and a fatal fall in 2019 after a rock ledge gave way.
This is a developing story.