UPDATE: Child rescued from ravine in Emery Park released from hospital.
A two-and-a-half-year-old boy fell from a cliff at Emery Park in South Wales Tuesday evening. Police say he was walking with his mother when he fell to the bottom of the ravine. She wasn't able to get down the walls, and other people in the park heard her screaming and called for help.
That call came into the Erie County Sheriff's Office at 5:15PM. Multiple agencies responded, including the Erie County Sheriff's SWAT High Angle Rope Rescue Team.
According to Scott Zylka, a spokesperson for the Erie County Sheriff's Office, the boy fell from a "significant height." The first person to respond to the scene was East Aurora Police Department Lieutenant Welch. He descended the ravine and found the little boy conscious but injured, with a laceration on the back of his head. A number of other rescuers were called in, and the boy was lifted from the ravine during a rope rescue. He was transported to Women and Children's Hospital in Buffalo at 6:30PM.
Other agencies involved in the rescue include East Aurora Fire, Erie County Park Rangers, and NY State police.
A day after the incident, rescuers talked with reporters about their efforts.
The name of the child and his mother are not being released as the family declined to take part in a press conference about what happened.
Erie County Sheriff investigators have closed the case on this incident finding no one at fault and concluding it was a unfortunate accident.
