Teen Was Swimming Across Green Hill Pond Before Drowning: Family

WORCESTER, MA — Relatives of the teen who drowned Friday in a pond at Green Hill Park in Worcester are speaking out about what happened in the moments before the teen slipped underwater.

The incident began around 1:30 p.m. Friday when bystanders called 911 to report swimmers in distress. Five Worcester police officers responded, according to officials, and were able to get two people out of the water.

Worcester police officer Enmanuel Familia, 38, drowned after he entered the pond to try to save Troy Love, 14.

Joseph Guy, Love's brother, told NBC 10 on Friday that the boy was in the middle of a swim across the pond when he suddenly began to struggle. Guy, who was also swimming in the pond, told the station he felt a current in the water that "just dragged you down."

Guy told Boston 25 he and his brother are from Virginia and are used to swimming in lakes, but were caught off guard by conditions at the pond.

"I felt like when we were in the water there’s a swirling thing that pulls you under, and you can’t come back up," Guy told Boston 25.

The pond at Green Hill Park is not a sanctioned swimming area. However, no public swimming areas — including nearby Bell Pond — or splash parks are open for the 2021 season yet.

The main pond at Green Hill Park is man-made, according to the Green Hill Park Coalition. It was created in 1878 when Martin Green, a member of the family that used to live on the land, dammed a brook, creating the 30-acre body of water. The coalition's historical overview of the park notes that a bath house was built near the pond in the 1920s for swimmers.