Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
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Amanda Butterfield and Sam Penrod Reporting A little two- year- old boy took a ride that could have-- and police say, should have-- killed him.
He fell in an irrigation canal over the weekend, and was underground in cold moving water for almost an hour before he was saved by a neighbor.
The neighbor who found him was coming down a hill looking for him, jumped over the fence, and heard a little whimper. The boy was still in the water, up to his neck, holding on to a metal grate.
Shane Hatch/Found Little Boy: "I looked down. He was ahold of that third rung right there with his little hand."
So Shane Hatch pulled back the fencing, grabbed two year old Barrack Beardall's hand, and pulled him through the half moon opening.
Shane Hatch/Found Little Boy: "You can't believe what he went through to get to that point."
It all started when Barrack fell through a grate at his grandpa's house, and for a quarter mile was swept away with the water. He went under the road. And down this hill, all underground, in complete darkness.
Shane Hatch/Found Little Boy: "He was probably tumbling down good when he went through there."
Finally he reached a grate, and somehow was able to hold on for as long as 40 minutes.
Shane Hatch/Found Little Boy: "The little guy is a fighter, unbelievable."
"He's got a few bumps, bruises. But he's okay. That's all that counts."
Shane Hatch: "You have to believe in miracles when something like this happens."
As for the family who lives here, with this in their yard...
Loranne Eldridge/Home Owner: "It's scary. It's been scary since we moved here."
They say they've tried to cover it with more than just the fencing, but the canal company who owns the irrigation ditch told them no.
Loranne Eldridge/Home Owner: "We're not allowed to. If something goes over it, it has to be movable. That's what we were told."
Barrack's grandfather says he was told the same thing about the canal on his property. He plans to bring it up to the city council.
