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Toddler drowns in pond near Wakefield home

E-mail|Link April 26, 2010 07:22 PM

By John M. Guilfoil, Globe Staff

A 2-year-old boy drowned today in a man-made pond outside his home in Wakefield.

Wakefield police responded at about 11:30 a.m. to a home on Lake Street where they found the toddler in cardiac arrest. Emergency workers tried to revive him as they rushed the young boy to Melrose Wakefield Hospital.

He was then airlifted to Massachusetts General Hospital, where he died around 2 p.m., police said.

Christopher Sardella had wandered away from his mother at some point this morning while she was doing chores around the house, police said. Christopher walked down a flight of stairs and out of the two-family house. He fell into a koi pond, which had about 18 inches of water in it.

The pond, a decorative, garden-like body of water, is adjacent to a pool at the house.

When the boy’s mother noticed he was missing, she ran out of the house and found him in the water, unresponsive, police said.

“It appears, at this point, to be a tragic accident,” Police Chief Richard E. Smith said in a statement.

John M. Guilfoil can be reached at jguilfoil@globe.com