River tragedy teenager 'was disaffected'

A teenager who drowned in a river in the North after fleeing police was “disaffected” with his life, a community worker claimed today.

Kyle Bonnes, 15, from Derry, was running from officers after they arrived to investigate noise and alcohol complaints from local residents.

Police Ombudsman Al Hutchinson’s office has appealed for witnesses to last night’s River Faughan tragedy on the outskirts of the city.

Willie Lamrock, who runs the local YMCA club, said more needed to be done to encourage young people like the victim.

“Kyle was part of a group of young people that we in the YMCA felt, and do feel, with a little bit of help and support, there’s a lot of goodness there,” he said.

“There was a group of young people who were disaffected with what was happening around them and what was happening with them and Kyle was one of them.”

The incident happened in the Drumahoe area just after 5pm last night. The boy was running away from police after they arrived to investigate disturbances in the area.

His body was recovered by members of Foyle Search and Rescue but he died after being pulled from the river.

He was a pupil at Lisneal College in the Waterside area of Derry.

Mr Lamrock said whenever they gathered on the street the young people were seen as loiterers or hooligans, yet a group of adult footballers would not face the same pigeon holing.

“We need some sort of plan of how we work with these young people and see if some of the suicides, see if some of the jailings or whatever happens to these young people, there is a cost to society as well, if you can save all that by working out a model of how we work with these people and getting people trained to work with them so we can complement some of their ideas on what life should be doing for them,” he added.

He said the boy, from Tullyally, near Derry, was part of a group which had been denied money to clean up a children’s park which had been defaced with graffiti.

“I was disappointed that we could not do something with these young people,” he added.

The Ombudsman’s office said investigators had been at the scene through the night co-ordinating forensic, mapping and photography work.

“We would like to speak to anyone who may have witnessed what happened to come forward,” it said.

The chairman of the Derry District Policing Partnership, Derry City councillor Joe Miller, offered his sympathy to the family.

“I would like to assure Kyle’s family that the District Policing Partnership will monitor the outcome of this independent investigation and will be there for the family if they require any assistance or support,” he said.