When I heard of this extremely heartbreaking story of a 15-year-old male teen drowning in Bedford, NH, on June 20, 2021, I was surprised and saddened. The obituary clearly articulated the short but amazing life Charlie had.
After reading almost every news story published to understand what happened to this bright, vibrant, healthy, athletic, and handsome young man, I, along with several other granite staters, some who know the grieving family personally, realized something didn’t add up.
Many logical questions surrounded his death, such as: Why would a healthy teenager, who is a good swimmer, who rope-swung on dozens of occasions at the same pond, suddenly forget how to swim and die from drowning?
Did he hit his head? Did he accidentally knock himself out? What really happened that day? Many Granite Staters are very confused and very concerned.
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Here’s the story that was published and has been reported from multiple sources:
BEDFORD, N.H. (AP) – A 15-year-old boy who drowned in a pond after he used a rope swing to drop into the water was the nephew of U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas.
Charles Zink was found dead Sunday night in about 15 feet of water in Sebbins Pond in Bedford. Police said when he jumped into the water, he surfaced briefly, then went back under. Police requested help from the Nashua Fire Department dive team.”
Here is the “write up” from the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS):
“He was in his usual state of good health. 5 days after receiving the vaccine, he complained of brief unilateral shoulder pain (unclear to family which shoulder), which the family attributed to a musculoskeletal source. No chest pains, shortness of breath, or palpitations. He was playing with 2 friends at a community pond, swinging from a rope swing, flipping in the air, and landing in the water feet first. He surfaced, laughed, told his friends “Wow, that hurt!”, then swam toward shore, underwater as was his usual routine. The friends became worried when he did not re-emerge. His body was retrieved by local authorities more than an hour later.”
There is almost no doubt that Charles Zink is VAERS I.D. 1764974.
There is little question from the autopsy results that Charlie suffered from acute heart injury at the time of his death.
It is well known by medical experts that one relatively common sign of cardiac injury displays as unilateral shoulder pain. When Charlie surfaced and said, “Wow, that hurt!” one can conclude he could have been referring to cardiac injury (myocarditis, myocardial infarction, etc.) while hitting the water or some time around the event.