South Side teen listed as critical

Flood sweeps boy, 14, half-mile down wash

John Yundt Jr. Richie Cruikshank

A teen-ager was swept through 300 feet of drainage tunnel Tuesday on the South Side before his near-lifeless body was pulled from a ditch a half-mile away.

John Yundt Jr., 14, was in critical condition Tuesday night after jumping into the flooded wash along with his friend, 13-year-old Richie Cruikshank. The two boys had been playing in the wash about 1 p.m. at the southeast corner of South Campbell Avenue and East Irvington Road.

"We were bike riding for about five minutes before we decided to get into the wash," said Cruikshank, who managed to climb out of the wash and was unharmed.

"We were jumping in and doing cannon balls and swimming," he said, explaining that they were in a portion of the wash that did not have a swift current.

"I knew it was pretty deep. John was trying to get out of the way because I was going to jump in. I went under and when I came up I heard him yell my name. I turned around and only saw his hand sticking out of the water.

"I thought John was just kidding. I turned around, and when I turned back his hand had disappeared. The water took him. I started getting really scared.

"I just started yelling out - 'John, John' - and people started coming over," said Cruikshank.

"The cops came. Then, I heard they found his body," Cruikshank said in a somber voice.

Before police arrived at the scene, dozens of people came to offer help to the boys.

Raul Nido, principal of Sunnyside High School, said he was southbound on South Campbell Avenue with Assistant Principal Stuart Baker when he saw the two boys jump into the wash.

"I looked over and saw the kids jump in and I saw the water was up to the top of the drainage ditch," Nido said.

Nido said he pulled over after he saw Cruikshank climb out. When he asked Cruikshank where the other boy was, Cruikshank told him "he went down the drain."

"I had a real bad feeling when I saw the one kid come out without the other one," he said.

Yundt was washed through the 24-inch-wide pipe beneath Irvington Road, through a half-mile of washes and possibly through two other 20-foot-long, 18-inch-wide pipes, said Capt. Joe Gulotta, a Tucson Fire Department spokesman. A witness said Yundt was carried over one street by the flood. Officials estimate Yundt was missing for about 17 minutes, but were unsure how long he was actually under water.

Yundt was finally spotted a half-mile downstream where the wash runs into Bravo Park near East Illinois Street and South Mountain Avenue.

A firefighter attached to a lifeline waded into the 3-foot-deep wash, dragging Yundt to the shore, Gulotta said. Firefighters began resuscitation near the water's edge until paramedics arrived and took the boy to University Medical Center.

Tucson Fire Department dispatchers received a call just before 1 p.m. from a security guard who saw two boys jump into the wash and one come out, Gulotta said.

Gulotta said the security guard who saw Yundt disappear in the wash tried reaching beneath the water for the boy, but found nothing.

Firefighters and police officers arrived minutes later and began combing the wash for the boy, Gulotta said.

The boy's father arrived at the scene minutes after firefighters found his son downstream. He yelled to firefighters and bystanders, asking them where his son was.

Bystanders said they told the boy's father, John Sr., that his son had been found downstream.

The elder Yundt and another man picked up John's chrome BMX bike and a mountain bike from where they lay near the edge of the wash and loaded them into a van.

Police then took the father to University Medical Center to be with his son.

Yundt family members declined to speak with reporters at the hospital.

Click image above for a full-sized graphic

The floodwaters quickly came and went. A shallow stream and scattered debris were all that remained of the 6 feet of water that had filled the wash 20 minutes earlier.

There was no grating on the underground pipe John was swept through.

Jim Glock, deputy director of the Tucson Department of Transportation, explained that grating is intentionally left off smaller drainage pipes to prevent a buildup of debris.

"When our desert storms hit, anywhere there is flowing water, one needs to exercise extreme caution," Glock said.

The storm entered eastern Pima County about noon, which is when a flash flood warning was issued, and intensified as it moved across Tucson, said Gary Zell, a National Weather Service spokesman.

Tuesday's total rainfall was measured at 0.16 of an inch at the airport and 0.21 at Tucson's National Weather Service building, which is located on the UA campus.

The danger of playing in washes was sinking in for Cruikshank as he spoke at his South Side home near the wash.

Sara Cruikshank, 44, stood at her son's side, glad that he was safe.

But her thoughts drifted to the Yundt family. "I'm worried about John. I just hope and pray John will be OK," she said.

"He spent a lot of time over here at the house. I'm very close to him, too," said Cruikshank, a restaurant waitress.

Cruikshank said she has repeatedly told both boys not to play in washes - even when they are dry. "You tell them what to do, and they do what they want anyway."

While the mother spoke, Richie recalled a line in a song. "There's 1,000 things I want to say to you," said the boy, thinking about John.

When asked what he wanted to tell his friend, he said: "John, you're my best friend. I really want to see you again. You're the only friend I actually ever had."

* Contact Carmen Duarte at 573-4195 or at cduarte@azstarnet.com.
* Contact Adam Borowitz at 629-9412 or at borowitz@azstarnet.com.