The mother of a 13-year-old boy with autism who died in a drowning incident in Marinette is speaking out, saying her son may have been bullied before his death. Police said Jakob Bowerman was pushed off Government Pier on August 20. A 16-year-old boy and a 21-year-old man could face charges in connection with the incident.
Jakob, who was unable to swim and was afraid of deep water, was pulled from the Menominee River and placed on life support. He died Saturday night after several days in critical condition. His mother, Taylor Singer, said she will never forget the day police arrived at her home to tell her what had happened.
She told local NBC affiliate WGBA, “Right when I went to go pull in, there were cops there and everything, and I thought, hmm, that’s weird, you know. And two seconds later, they called me, and they said that Jakob was in a drowning accident. So, then everything just all clicked together. I was just down there watching everything, but it was actually my son who was there,” she said.
According to police, camera footage shows Jakob being pushed into the river by the two suspects. He was flown to St. Vincent Hospital in Green Bay, where doctors fought to save him. Singer described the days by his bedside as devastating.
“It’s something that no mother should ever have to go through, you know what I mean. Like to see your son hooked up to all these machines, a tube in their throat. He was having seizures, his body was jerking around constantly, and I would lie on him and try and get the jerking to stop, and they just wouldn’t stop,” she said.
Singer said her son had faced bullying throughout his life because of his autism and believes the act of pushing him into the water was another form of cruelty. “Kids, they just need to be nice. There’s no reason to pick on people. There’s no reason to think it’s funny to push kids off a pier. I don’t know if they think it was funny or what.
But we need to do better with our kids and teach them to respect one another,” she said. She added that no child deserves to endure what Jakob went through, and she hopes sharing his story prevents other families from experiencing such tragedy. A candlelight vigil for Jakob is scheduled for August 27 at 8 p.m. at Government Pier in Marinette.