AUGUSTA, Maine — Augusta police have charged a local man in connection with the near drowning of his toddler son at the East Side Boat Landing earlier this month, Deputy Police Chief Jared Mills said Tuesday.
Christopher Norwood, 31, of Augusta is charged with endangering the welfare of a child, a Class D misdemeanor, Mills said. Norwood is scheduled to make his initial court appearance on Nov. 21, Mills said.
Mills said the 2-year-old has recovered and is doing well.
It was not clear Tuesday if the child, who was released from the hospital earlier this week, was returned to his home or if he had been placed elsewhere.
Mills said that the Maine Department of Health has been involved with the investigation since the incident occurred on Sept. 16 and has been working diligently to ensure the child’s safety.
The combined efforts of bystanders along the Kennebec River were credited with saving the boy’s life when he was found unresponsive in the water near the East Side Boat Landing Playground.
Witnesses on Front Street, on the west side of the river, saw a small child in the water across the river at about 6 p.m. on the evening of Sept. 16 and at first thought he was playing in the water. Upon realizing the child was drowning, bystanders began yelling across the river, trying to catch the attention of someone on the riverbank.
Sean Scanlon of Dresden Mills, who was playing with his children at the playground, heard the commotion and jumped into the water, grabbed the unresponsive child and swam back to shore, Mills said earlier.
Scanlon began performing CPR, but the boy was still unresponsive when Augusta fire and rescue personnel arrived and got him breathing.
Detective Tori Tracy of the Augusta Police Department conducted the investigation that led to the charge.
Bangor Daily News writer Beth Brogan contributed to this report.