YELLOW SPRINGS — An 18-year-old drowned near a waterfall in Glen Helen Nature Preserve Sunday afternoon.
The teenager was identified as Jalynn Henderson of Dayton, according to the Greene County Coroner’s Office.
Miami Township Fire-Rescue and Yellow Springs Police Department responded to the approximately 2:30 p.m. report of a drowning at the Cascades — a waterfall on Birch Creek considered the central point of the preserve located in Yellow Springs.
A Yellow Springs police officer found Henderson under a log in the water, jumped in, pulled him to shore and started CPR, according to a Miami Township Fire-Rescue Facebook post.
“Fire personnel arrived on scene and worked with PD and bystanders to bring the patient up a steep incline to the trail, where ALS resuscitation efforts were started,” officials said in the post.
The teenager was pronounced dead at the scene after a lengthy attempt at resuscitation, according to the report.
A Glen Helen ranger and the coroner’s office also responded to the incident. Police are investigating.
Police said the man was swimming with several other people at the closed park, where swimming is prohibited.
The Glen, including its trails, the Raptor Center, and educational programming, has been closed to the public since March 26 to lessen the spread of COVID-19, according to its Facebook. Antioch College, which owns Glen Helen, recently announced that it has no plans to reopen the preserve. The Glen Helen Association, an independent organization supporting the Glen since 1960, is currently fund-raising in a “Save the Glen” effort to purchase Glen Helen from Antioch College.
