Park Employee Drowns In Catch Basin

Chicago, IL. - A Chicago Park District employee apparently drowned after he ended up in a catch basin in the Hegewisch neighborhood on the Far Southeast Side on Tuesday morning.

Paramedics responded about 10 a.m. to reports of a man stuck in a hole at 13133 S. Carondolet Ave., according to Fire Media Affairs spokesman Quention Curtis.

The victim -- a 59-year-old man who works for the Park District -- was discovered partially submerged in a catch basin, according to police News Affairs Officer Ron Gaines. The incident occurred near Mann Park at 2949 E. 131st St.

The man was pulled out of a sewer and paramedics administered CPR on the scene, Fire Media Director Larry Langford said.

Calls for rescue crews were canceled because the man was not trapped, Langford said. He was taken to Saint Margaret Mercy Hospital in Hammond in critical condition.

Jeff Wells, spokesman for the Lake County (Ind.) Coroner's office, confirmed that the man had died at Saint Margaret, but said a cause of death would not be known until an autopsy is performed Wednesday.