At Tyler State Park, crews continue their search for missing ranger whose kayak capsized
The 38-year-old Delaware County man has been missing since midday Friday. People who have had their own close calls in that part of the Neshaminy Creek say the water there can be "deceiving."
The search will continue Sunday for the park ranger who went missing after a boating accident at Tyler State Park in Newtown, Bucks County, Pennsylvania State Police said.
The 38-year-old Delaware County man was kayaking on the Neshaminy Creek just before 12:30 p.m. Friday when his boat capsized, officials have said. Authorities have not released his name. Over the last day, agencies from across Bucks County have converged on the area to search for him.
The 1,700-acre park, popular for hiking, boating, and fishing, remained closed to the public until further notice, authorities said Saturday evening.
On Friday afternoon, footage from 6abc’s helicopter showed crews searching a section of the creek near a dam. A buoy, suspended just above the surface on a rope, and a blue life jacket bobbed in fast-moving water at the dam’s edge. The missing man, a park resource ranger tasked with technical public safety work, had been trying to place a buoy in the water when his kayak flipped, according to 6abc.
The tragedy serves as a jarring reminder of just how powerful water can be, said Lee Stocker, 47, of Langhorne. Stocker, a certified diver who has done search and rescue work across the region, said he has spent hundreds of hours fishing and swimming in the same section of Neshaminy Creek.
As a teenager in the 1990s, Stocker said, he was fishing there when a young boy tried to walk out on the flooded dam and was pulled under, getting stuck in the undertow near a boat dock. Stocker jumped in. For a time, both of them were stuck, but Stocker said he used his knowledge of the creek to get them to safety.
Perhaps making the water there even more perilous on Friday: a recent stretch of wet weather that has brought the city’s rainfall total for the month to roughly 4.5 inches, about double the May average.
“When the water is very high, that place is very dangerous,” Stocker said, “and a lot of people don’t realize how dangerous it can be.”
Melissa George, 38, of Fairless Hills, learned the hard way. On a hot summer day in July 2014, her then-7-year-old son, Orlando, slipped on algae-covered rocks in shallow water and was swept away, his little body heading toward the dam, she recalled. He was saved by a stranger, a man who had been in the water nearby with other children.
“It’s so deceiving. When you look at it and you think, ‘Oh, it’s just a little creek,’” George said. But when Orlando fell, “it was like all of a sudden somebody pulled his legs out from under him.”
Most of that stretch of Neshaminy Creek is shallow, Stocker said, but there are holes that are probably 10 to 15 feet deep. There are also large boulders, he said, on which people could hit their head and be knocked unconscious.
“It’s not just what you see. It’s what you can’t see, too,” Stocker said. “The current can be strong enough to pin you where you can’t physically move.”
Given how shallow most of the creek is, however, he was surprised the man had yet to be found. It was unclear whether the worker was wearing a life jacket.
“If you have a life jacket, you should pop up,” Stocker said. “Sounds like just a terrible accident.”
As summer unofficially begins, “hopefully other people can learn from this. Water can be fun, but it’s no joke,” Stocker said. “It doesn’t matter your age or your experience level.”
The search has been conduced by first responders from the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources; the aviation and marine units of the state police; the Northampton Township Fire Department, Newtown Emergency Services Department, New Hope Fire Department, Lingohocken Fire Company, and Upper Makefield Fire Company; and the Bucks County Special Operations Dive Team.
Several state and national officials from Bucks County have said on social media that they were heartbroken to hear about the incident.
“These rangers are more than caretakers of our natural spaces — they’re protectors, often putting themselves at risk to serve others," wrote U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R., Pa.), a Levittown native who represents all of Bucks County. “My prayers are with the ranger, their loved ones, and the entire DCNR family,” referring to the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, which maintains state parks.
“Please keep all those affected in your thoughts.”
Inquirer staff writer Thomas Fitzgerald contributed to this article.