MIRAMAR, FLA. (WSVN) - A life preserver ring was installed in Miramar in honor of a teen who lost his life.
7News cameras captured the moment that the ring was unveiled in Vizcaya Park, Thursday.
City officials are hoping that by installing life rings along several waterways lives will be saved.
Charmaine Fenton, who lost her 18-year-old son, Linnon Latham, spoke during the ceremony.
“He drowned right here,” she said.
Charmaine shared her account of the day Linnon died and spoke about the device that might have saved him.
“It’s a bittersweet moment for me, because maybe if there was a life ring, and someone saw my son in distress, it could have helped him,” she said.
Linnon drowned in a Miramar canal in 2023 after going missing.
The life ring that was installed at Vizcaya Park is part of an initiative brought on from Sarah Perry, whose son, Aden Perry, lost his life trying to save a driver who went into the water.
She believes a life ring would have made a difference.
“They have been proven to save lives for many years,” Sarah said. “They just have to be available to be used to save a life.”
Officials with Miramar Fire Rescue said the idea behind the life safety tool is for someone who is on the shore to throw it to the person in distress in the water, while keeping one end of the rope with them and pulling the person to shore.
Aden’s mom said she’s on a mission.
“One life ring, one city at a time. We’re going to make a difference,” she said.
To date, Sarah Perry’s organization has donated more than 300 life rings in different South Florida cities.
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