A 5-year-old nearly drowned in a New Jersey lake, before a group of brave bystanders and cops sprung to rescue her. The little girl was inside Newark’s Branch Brook Park on Sunday afternoon and fell into the lake near a boathouse at the southern portion of the park, the Essex County Sheriff’s Office said. The little girl went into the lake inside Newark’s Branch Brook Park on Sunday afternoon, the Essex County Sheriff’s Office said. Parkgoers and police officers at the scene rushed to pull the preschooler out of Branch Brook Lake, officials said. Google mapsShe appeared to sneak off and waded into the lake while her grandfather was busy buckling a sibling into the family’s car, the sheriff’s office said.