Cook County Commissioner Richard Boykin

Delays with the recovery of the body of a Villa Park teen who drowned in the Des Plaines River near Melrose Park may have been caused by overlapping police jurisdictions, said a Cook County Commissioner, who asked the Cook County Inspector General’s office to investigate.

Commissioner Richard Boykin also suggested the $7.4 million-a-year Cook County Forest Preserve Police might be eliminated with duties taken over by the Cook County Sheriff.

Boykin said he believes “at least a-day-and-a-half was wasted” in the recovery efforts for Cameron Sanders, 16, who jumped into the river from a railroad trestle located in Cook County Forest Preserve around 4:30 p.m. Saturday, May 13.

Sanders was dragged under by the current, but two other boys survived.

The so-called “Rainbow Bridge” trestle is a popular teen hangout spot in the Cook County Forest Preserves. The bridge crosses the Des Plaines River south of North Avenue in Melrose Park south of the Lincoln Technical College campus. The rail line runs through Thatcher Woods, across the street from Dominican University in River Forest.

According to Boykin, law enforcement agencies from Canadian National, the Forest Preserves of Cook County police, Illinois State Police and Melrose Park Police Department all converged on the rescue scene Saturday evening, May 13. But, Boykin said, there was no agency that would lead the search.

FPCC was described as an “assisting organization” in a statement from the FPCC spokeswoman Lambrini Lukidis, who said crews searched for hours that night and then resumed the search Sunday morning, May 14. “The search included watercraft, helicopters, scuba divers, and sonar and cadaver dogs,” Lukidis said in a statement. FPCC continued to help until the body was found, she said.

By Saturday night, the case was reclassified as a recovery mission instead of a rescue.

Boykin said law enforcement teams did not return to the site until late Sunday morning, when Melrose Park police were coordinating the efforts.

Sanders’ mother and other family members were alarmed when rescue teams packed up and left Sunday afternoon without explanation, Boykin said. He described Melrose Park police officers as being “nasty” to Cameron’s mother, Liza Perry-Sanders.

Perry-Sanders and other family members remained on the scene Sunday evening and took over the search themselves, possibly endangering themselves by walking along the muddy banks of the river, Boykin said.

A group of about 30 volunteers and family members met Monday afternoon, May 15, at the bridge to search for the teen’s body. Canine rescue professional Rob Larson, of Westchester, searched the river with his boat and a scent-trained dog. Larson told the group he observed two FPCC police searchers on Monday walking along the banks, “and that was it.”

“There could have been another tragedy,” if a civilian searcher slipped and fell in the water, Boykin said.

By Monday evening, the Cook County Sheriff’s Department had agreed to take over the search, with participation from police departments in neighboring towns along the river. More than 200 personnel as well as watercraft operators and a helicopter joined in the search, which lasted until Thursday morning, May 18, six days after the teen disappeared, Boykin said. Sanders’ body was found at 10:30 a.m. about 150 yards from the bridge on the east bank of the river.

Boykin said the overlapping police jurisdictions left agencies “pointing fingers.” For example, the Forest Preserve police said the teen was in the Forest Preserve jurisdiction until he entered the water, at which point his recovery was under the jurisdiction of the Illinois State Police and the Department of Natural Resources, Boykin said.

“We need to get to the bottom of who was in charge and how did they assert their authority?”

Boykin also suggested that the FPCC police department may be redundant and that the Sheriff’s police might be able to patrol the forest preserves.

“I’m wondering if we even need a Forest Preserve police department,” he said.

In 2016, the FPCC police department employed 127 full-time employees costing $7.4 million a year, according to the FPCC’s 2016 annual budget.

“The Cook County Inspector General will get to the bottom of it. This tragedy puts [law enforcement agencies] on the spot and in the spotlight,” Boykin said.

— Investigation into teen’s drowning prompts a look at Cook Forest Preserve Police  —