GUILTY MT - Leo Mathis, 3, drowned in creek, East Helena, 22 June 2011

[Noway]

I don't think the intent initially was to go to the park, but once he was in the water with his son, he made that decision.

Again, since he just moved here and I don't know what his connection to East Helena is (if there is one), he may not have known that he could have walked to Riggs and just on the other side of the creek is a path that leads to JFK park. It's not on the map above, but the shortcut is known by residents.

He would not have had to go all the way around to Harrison and the entrance (see map where it says "Memorial Park Swimming Pool".

eta
The words are actually across the parking lot from the pool itself. Funny I always called that "the East Helena pool" and the pool in Helena "Memorial Park pool" (since that is the name of the park where the pool ... now Last Chance Splash ... is located). I don't know if Google is off or it's me.

 

[Noway]

So the child tried to get to the park? Or dad was unaware of the danger and tried to take the child to the park despite the flooding? Initially I thought perhaps the father was trying to 'rescue' the child from a dangerous situation and lost his footing, not take him through a dangerous situation to go play at a park.

I'm not really sure I believe the dad was unaware of potential danger. It seems like risky behavior he may have not chosen if he were sober. It seems to me, unless the water was not moving, he could have still lost his footing hole or not.

jmo

One of the articles indicated the water was "raging" and I believe it. All of Kennedy Park had been flooded.

June8
http://helenair.com/news/article_5f7c836a-9122-11e0-a361-001cc4c002e0.html

This is photo of area north of Riggs around June 8 (if link does not work, use link above and click on Images tab)
http://helenair.com/news/article_5f7c836a-9122-11e0-a361-001cc4c002e0.html?mode=image&photo=6

eta

The area between the berm and the creek is brushy, covered with Russian olive trees and other vegetation, and a steep bank runs down to the creek. When the incident happened, there was an area of slack water on the west bank. The documents note the creek was “visibly raging.”

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Read more: http://missoulian.com/news/state-an...1b1-11e0-a6a9-001cc4c002e0.html#ixzz1R0Dbp192
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I did not see that memorial today if it's on the Gail Street side. It could be in JFK park. I'll try to get there tomorrow with a friend.

 

[Noway]

Took photos and have asked a friend to include in her Photobucket case file for Leo. I'll try to have them posted tonight.

 

[Noway]

Since the memorial was described as being at the place where Leo went in, I took that to mean directly across from the memorial.

I did not see any slow moving water on the Gail Street side of the creek; only on the JFK Park side.

(eta: This either is only visible if you're standing between the bearm and the creek on the Gail Street side or it has seen dried. I could not see any area of slack water from the Park side. “However, the main current of the creek was visibly raging between the slack water on the west bank and the east bank that borders Kennedy Park,” County Attorney Leo Gallagher wrote in the affidavit. Read more: http://helenair.com/news/article_c4a79b26-9ef1-11e0-986a-001cc4c03286.html#ixzz1R5qhoCeZ )

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The other places ... it almost seemed that if he went over the bearm he would have dropped down to the ground level of the brush and if he had been able to get through the brush, he would have been in the creek in fast moving water..

The park itself is barely visible here and there from Gail Street, but I don't know 1) that a 3 year old would have been able to see over the bearm to see those parts and 2) would have recognized the parts as a park. Of course, it is possible that his dad or someone else told him there was a park on the other side.

Something else I need to note is that they would not have had to walk all the way down Harrison to the parking lot to enter the park. The fence on Harrison has several gate openings, including the first corner of the park. If you follow the path, it goes around to the park.

 

[Noway]

Was having trouble with Photobucket but finally got them uploaded (pix). Because I was talking in the videos, I'm going to go back tomorrow morning and get one video of the area.

Photobucket Link

 

[OkieGranny]

From August 2012:

http://billingsgazette.com/news/sta...cle_35acd33e-a957-5859-bb3a-913b05387bf4.html

A district judge Tuesday sentenced Leo E. Mathis to 20 years with the Montana Department of Corrections with 15 of those suspended for the drowning death of his young son in a flooded creek last year...

A jury found Mathis guilty in March of felony negligent homicide for allowing his son to fall into Prickly Pear Creek. Mathis and his son were walking on West Gail Street in East Helena when Mathis was distracted by a telephone call and his son walked away from him. The boy went over a berm that had been constructed along the creek during flooding...

Mathis was intoxicated at the time of his son’s death, tests showed.