Chester police, firefighters and other emergency personnel on Monday have returned to the Chester Creek in Chester to the scene where Lin’ajah Brooker, 6, fell into the water.
The girl was swept away Saturday evening hours after heavy rains swelled the creek and other bodies of water in Delaware County and the region. Officials have vowed to continue the search and bring closure to the girl’s parents.
Chester @ChesterCityFire and Pennsylvania State Police crews search Chester creek with electronic equipment Monday morning. pic.twitter.com/MftgwupDrH
— Pete Bannan (@PeteBannan) March 25, 2024
Officials said they are using a side scan sonar to search the creek from that spot to the mouth of the Delaware River.
The scene is marked only with a memorial of a small blue bunny tied to a chain-link fence.
Later in the day, the city released this information:
“(On Monday) the Chester Bureau of Fire, assisted by the Pennsylvania State Police, conducted a search of the Chester Creek using a towed side-scan sonar device. Thedevice provided images of the parts of the creek bank that are underwater and the creek bed.
“Multiple scans of the entire creek, from above the point of entry to the Delaware River, were performed. Upon completion of the scans and reviewing all the images, nothing was found.
“Crews will conduct an additional search tomorrow (Tuesday, March 26th) using scent canines.
“Mayor (Stefan) Roots, Council, and Commissioners continue to hope that search and recovery efforts could find Lin’ajah and help bring closure to the family and loved ones.
“They extend their sincere condolences to the family during this very difficult, tragic time.”
Neighbor account
Damian Lewis, 46, was in his home on West Eighth Street in the Holy City section of Chester cooking dinner on the quiet tight-knit block when a nephew ran in saying a child had fallen into the rain-swollen creek.
“Somebody fell in the creek, a girl fell in the creek,” Lewis recalled him saying. “I ran out the house. Police were already coming down the street. It was fast.”
With as much as 3 inches of rain falling across Delaware County Saturday, the swollen creek, which runs perpendicular to the street, was rushing toward the Delaware River less than a mile away.
The creek isolates that part of Eighth Street from the rest of town but it is a temptation for children.
“It’s one of the last good streets in Chester. You can have some peace, sit on your porch. The kids run up and down the street but you’ve got to keep an eye on them,” Lewis said.
The girl and two other children had been in McClurg Playground but ventured through an opening in the fence of the park, which was refurbished in 2022, through the rear alley and down the embankment to the creek.
“We tell the kids don’t come down here, but kids …” Lewis said. “Everything happened very fast. It’s sad and unfortunate. ”
“By the time she fell in, the kids went in to get adults and make phone calls. Another young man, about 19 years old, he jumped in. It was too much for him. By the time I got down here he had no shirt on, shorts and a pair of socks. He was crying …
“I send my prayers out to them,” Lewis said. “Our kids play together. It’s our neighborhood.”
He said one older neighbor had just told the kids to stay away from the creek before the tragedy.
“He was crying his eyes out. I went there. It was fast. She didn’t stand a chance. Her best hope was to be near the bank and grab a branch. It was fast, sad,” Lewis said. “It’s a good neighborhood. You warn the kids the danger of it (the creek), ‘stay away from it’ but it was one of them days,” he said. “If you weren’t there, there was nothing you could do.
“I hate that the other little kids had to see that,” Lewis said.
After the tragedy, city officials replaced the opening in the fence, which neighbors appreciated
He said the family and the entire neighborhood is upset and residents are struggling to deal with their emotions.
A flood warning was issued for the Chester Creek earlier Saturday. The National Weather Service office in Mount Holly, New Jersey, said the creek was expected to crest about the stage that the water would begin to overflow the banks, but just slightly.
It is unclear if that happened. The warning was discontinued about four hours before the evening tragedy.
Overall, Saturday was the rainiest March day on record at an official Philadelphia weather station in a 152-year database.
