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Local News15-Year-Old Falls Into Lake Michigan, DiesBy Associated Press
RACINE - Wanda Williams speaks softly in sadness and shock. She wonders how her 15-year-old son Orlando Collins fell in Lake Michigan.
"Just a lot of pain and hurt," Williams said Saturday night. "I just want to know what really happened, that's it."
Collins died at at the hospital early Saturday morning after rescue divers pulled him from the water. His family told TODAY'S TMJ4 he did not know how to swim and would have never jumped in. They added he was at the pier with friends who are swimmers. Collins' family said a younger sister was nearby and watched her brother struggle in the water before authorities arrived.
Reports from responding agencies leave questions unanswered. A release from the Racine County Sheriff's Department says Collins jumped from the pier area. However, a media report from the Racine Fire Department says a 911 caller reported the boy fell.
"His life was lost with his friends in a freak accident," said Harold Monroe, Collins' uncle.
Collins' older sister Desiree said her brother had big dreams for the future. Collins was a freshman at Racine's Horlick High School
"He was going to graduate," she said. "He was going to college and he was going to play basketball."
Witnesses say Collins had trouble getting out of the water and had gone under.
The pier is about 200 yards from shore in about 8 to 10 feet of water.
Firefighters and divers were called to the beach just after 6:30 p.m. and Fire Department officials said the teen was found 29 minutes later.
Racine Fire Chief Steven Hansen says the boy was found a foot or two off the lake's bottom in 8 to 10 foot deep water. Officials said the water temperature was 53 degrees.
Paramedics started CPR while the teenager was transferred to shore.
A Flight For Life Helicopter landed on the beach and rescue crews worked on the boy as his panicked family watched from nearby.
Collins was loaded onto the helicopter and taken to Children's Hospital in Wauwatosa where he died on Saturday.
Some witnesses said they saw the Collins hit his head on some rocks.
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