Jul 10, 2024
Teenage boy drowns at Quarry Park and Nature Preserve
By Grace Jacobson / News Director
WAITE PARK, Minn. — Family and friends are mourning the loss of a teenage boy after a popular summer activity in Stearns County cost him his life.
Around 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday, July 9, authorities received a 911 call about a possible drowning at Quarry 11 inside Waite Park’s Quarry Park and Nature Preserve.
Witnesses said that 17-year-old Emmanuel Seward Jr. of Brooklyn Center had jumped off a ten-foot-high cliff into the water but never resurfaced. They said they dove into the water to try and find him but were unsuccessful.
Members of the Stearns/Benton Dive Team, along with the Waite Park and St. Cloud Fire Departments, deployed boats and started searching the quarry.
Finally at around 8:45 p.m., authorities found the Seward Jr. in 31 feet of water.
The Quarry Park and Nature Preserve does not have any lifeguards on duty.