Boys Chased Pokémon into Des Plaines River: Police

Riverside, IL — As Riverside Police Chief Thomas Weitzel was pulling into the back of the police station parking lot July 13, he saw eight young boys at the edge of the Des Plaines River, looking at their phones.

Weitzel soon realized two of the boys were nearly up to their knees in the river, about 10 feet from the shore.

He ran to the river's edge and told the boys to get out of the water and learned they had followed their Pokémon Go apps from Lyons and Brookfield to the back of the police station and then to the water.

“Some of my concerns are the waypoints in the game that may not be geographically safe and some areas are more dangerous than others," Weitzel said in a statement. "I just wanted to make sure that the kids who were playing this game by the river were safe and advised them to take their fun to the parks.”

Weitzel admonished the boys, ages 10 to 13, and told them to stay out of the water and away from the Des Plaines River’s edge.