Fil-Am boy in Chicago falls into river, drowns

CHICAGO – An eight-year-old Filipino-American boy in Chicago drowned after falling into a river while playing. Second-grader Cashmere Castillo was playing tag with other children at N. Ridgeway in Chicago’s north side last May 16 when he jumped over a fence and fell into the river. Trained dogs led Chicago police to the body of Cashmere at the edge of the river just a mile downstream from where he fell, a week after the accident. The body was later identified by the boy’s father. “My son did not know how to swim. But even if he did, he would not have survived because of the strong current," Cashmere’s grieving father Willie said. There were heavy rains a few days prior to the boy’s drowning, the father recalled. “I screamed for help from people in the park. One of them dove into the water. Cashmot (Cashmere’s nickname) was able to grab the finger of the rescuer but he could not hold on due to the strong current," said the victim’s brother, thirteen-year-old Christian. Christian was playing basketball when he heard that his younger brother fell into the river. The Castillo family lamented the absence of a life preserver, which should have been mounted to a pedestrian bridge near the street where Cashmere slipped into the river. A spokesman of the Department of Transportation said preservers are “typically placed along major street locations." Cashmere’s father Willie, a machinist and automotive supplier based in Chicago, was a native of Bacoor in Cavite province, while his mother Merrel was from Bislig City in Surigao del Sur. Cashmere’s remains were buried at the Bohemian National Cemetery north of Chicago on Thursday, May 27. Mourners streamed to the funeral service, where his shocked classmates struggled to write words of condolence to his family. “To my friend Cashmere, you were a hard worker. You were a smart kid! I miss you," wrote Brittney Tillett, his classmate at Alessandro Volta Elementary School.—JMA/JV, GMANews.TV