Posted on 04/25/2022 1:50:22 PM PDT by nickcarraway
A Bergen County community gathered Sunday to remember 18-year-old Clinten Ajit, after police recovered the high school senior's body in a New Milford pond.
The wake for Ajit was scheduled for 4 p.m. at St. Peter's Mar Thoma Church in Washington Township, CBS2's Elijah Westbrook reported.
Witnesses said Ajit went into the pond on Friday to retrieve a soccer ball and apparently drowned after he suddenly went underwater.
"He was a passionate kid. He had his whole life ahead of him," said Aram Bavoukian, a senior at New Milford High School.
Police said Ajit went into the frigid water of Hard Castle Pond at around 7 p.m.
MTA update on subway shooting and security cameras "The water went up to his waist. Then it went up to his neck. Then he had his whole, full body in the water," said 10-year-old Sam Rueda, who saw the tragedy unfold with his family.
Sam's father gave CBS2 permission to interview his son.
"After he put his hands down, that was the last we ever saw of him. Then his friends started to panic," Sam said.
That's when witnesses called 911.
"Next thing you know, they were putting the boat in the water. They were dropping the boat in, and another boat. Guys were suiting up," neighbor Steven Cerenzio said.
Ajit's body was recovered nearly three hours later.
Friends said he was a smart and kind kid. His classmates, like many others in the town, were in disbelief.
Friends and strangers stopped by the pond on Saturday to leave flowers at a small, but growing memorial.
"They're all in shock," Bavoukian said. "Like, it was so quick. You go from, like, we all had classes with him a couple hours before."
"I don't know. I just want the family to know they're in my prayers. I was up all last night just thinking about that poor mom and what she had to go through," neighbor Mary Lukas said.
Grief counselors will be available at New Milford High School on Monday, the school district said.
Police are still investigating the events leading up to the teen's drowning.
It does seem unusual. Did he get tangled in something? It seems really crazy that he just, boom, went in the water and didn’t even thrash around trying to get out. If he couldn’t swim at all he wouldn’t have gone in the pond, or so one would think.
Probably didn’t know how to swim...not a lot of ethnic people do know how to swim. Remember boot camp and people freaking out the first time they saw the pool. Rest assured recruits you will learn to swim by the numbers! No one drowned well no one drowned and was not revived afterwards at least. Sad story moral is don’t go into water of.unknown depth unless you are a competent swimmer.
If I started whaling on life I wouldn’t stop until my knuckles were smashed to pieces.
I was thinking the same thing. If he wouldn’t go in, or he would stop when it got deeper.
Even if he couldn’t swim, it would have taken longer than this? None of his schoolmates went in?
The water is very cold right now.
We dredged a pond on my friend's property once. It wasn't deep, but decades of vegetation, silt, etc... made the bottom like thick pea soup. If a 160 lb person stepped in it, they would sink 4 ft into it and be stuck like in quicksand. I bet that's what happened to this kid.
I would never have gone in that pond to retrieve anything, no matter how much I was threatened. Not because I worried about drowning. [I'm an excellent swimmer] But because I suspected that the pond was full of toxic wastes, even as a teenager.
This is a state that has toxic waste on it's flag, I think.
If the water is cold it can cause your diaphragm to spasm from “cold water shock” (vagal response, gasp reflex), it can also Myocardial Infarction.
Not really. There are unknown drop offs. If you are not a trained swimmer it can get you because of the surprise. You swallow water and bad gets worse. I’ve seen it happen
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