After little Kaden Young was torn from his mother’s arms into the Grand River eight months ago, hundreds of people turned out to search for the 3-year-old boy.For two months, volunteers kept turning out to look for Kaden in a case that united the community around Orangeville.Now, the boy’s mother has been charged by Dufferin OPP in connection with her son’s death.Michelle Hanson, 35, of Amaranth, was charged with impaired driving causing death, dangerous driving causing death and criminal negligence causing death.She is scheduled to appear in an Orangeville courtroom on Nov. 6.During a flood in the early hours on Feb. 21, police reported that Hanson, who was rescued by emergency responders near Dufferin County Road 109, drove past a road-closure sign marked by orange pylons. The boy was torn from her arms as she managed to escape the vehicle in the raging waters.The little boy’s disappearance touched the community. Tributes including bouquets of flowers, blue ribbons and stuffed animals with messages saying “We love you Kaden,” were tied to poles and the guardrail on the bridge.“Two long gruelling months, involving hundreds and hundreds of volunteers, the first couple of weeks there were 400 to 500 volunteers a day, even through the March break we had hundreds of people a day, which was amazing,” said OPP Const. Paul Nancekivell of the search at the time.“It really rallied the community together. People showed up with excavators, boats. Any equipment we needed, we got it.”“It is very emotional for them,” Nancekivell said in April.Nearly two months after Kaden disappeared in the Grand River, the body of a small boy was discovered by a fisherman beneath a bridge along County Road 26 near Belwood Lake on April 21.Three days later, an autopsy conducted by the coroner’s office positively identified the remains as belonging to Kaden.A day after Kaden’s body was found, Hanson thanked t ...
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