Mayor Nutter Says City May Look At Safety Of Manayunk Canal
By Mike Dunn
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) --- Tonight brings the viewing of Shane Montgomery, the local college student whose body was found in the Manayunk canal last week after he went missing on Thanksgiving. And now Mayor Nutter says a look at the safety of the canal may be warranted.
Mayor Nutter, when he was a city councilman, represented Manayunk. "I've been in that area a million times," he said.
And Nutter says once the investigation of Shane Montgomery's death is complete, it may be time for city officials to ensure that the canal area has proper safety features.
"We don't completely know with certainty is where he actually went in to the water, how he went in to the water," Nutter says. "There are a fair number of protections out there. I'm not going to speculate about what happened or how it happened. We know the end result. But if there are things that we can do along the canal -- if that's where he went in to the water -- we certainly want to take any additional precautionary steps that we can."
For now, though, Nutter said it's important to respect the privacy of Shane's family as they lay him to rest. The mayor was asked about the matter Monday during an unrelated news conference.
Tonight's viewing for Shane Montgomery will be held at St. John The Baptist Church on Rector Street in Manayunk, starting at 6pm. The death has been ruled accidental, but further test results are still pending.
