TAYLORSVILLE, Utah -- An 18-month-old boy who was found unresponsive in a pond at his family's Taylorsville home Tuesday has died.
Ryder Young died at 11 a.m. Wednesday, according to the Unified Police Department.
The pond is at a home near 3400 W. 5700 S. Det. Jared Richardson with UPD said the child wandered out of sight.
“The father was outside in the backyard watching him,” he said. “He was on his computer and says he glanced down for just a few minutes.”
Unbeknownst to the father, the boy fell into a pond that’s about 4-feet wide and 3-feet deep.
After the father realized Ryder was missing, he began searching the house. Then he called the boy’s grandmother and police.
"The officers started looking for the child as a missing child, the grandmother then found the child in a 3-foot-deep pond, and the officers pulled the child out and started CPR," Richardson said.
Police said the child may have been submerged for as long as 15 minutes.
A neighbor who didn’t want to be identified said: "My daughter was leaving for work, and she yelled out, 'something's happening.' So we ran down because we saw family members outside, we heard what happened."
Neighbor Andrea Nieuwland said those in the neighborhood are coming forward to help the family.
"There's some neighbors up at the hospital supporting them there and people here saying prayers and getting things together, collecting food, things like that,” she said.
Unified Police officials said it was an emotional situation for the officers to deal with as well.
As per protocol, police are looking into the family's history, but they said so far it appears to be an accident.
