Eleven-year-old Mariyama Suleman’s first trip to a swimming pool ended with her at the bottom of Knickerbacker Park Pool last year.
The outing with her family left her dead. Although she was still alive when the lifeguards rescued her, she later died at Albany Medical Center Hospital from brain injuries resulting from lack of oxygen.
The incident has been blamed on glare and a lap lane stripe that may have prevented city lifeguards from spotting her, reports say. A report says that lifeguards did not see her in distress.
The conclusion to the investigation was issued nearly 18 months after the accident occurred. Mariyama was not a swimmer – and she spent most of her time in the four-feet-deep area of the pool, three times being warned to stay in the shallow end of the pool before moving into the deep water and drowning, reports say.
The young girl was eventually pulled from the pool by another swimmer. Lifeguards attempted to revive her until city police and firefighters arrived.
The report recommended improvements, such as portable elevated chairs and roving lifeguards along the pool side and keep CPR equipment at poolside instead of in the pool building. Also, due to the glare, one suggestion was that lifeguards wear polarized sunglasses.
To have an outing go so terribly wrong is a horrible ending. In incidents such as this, the offices of Attorney Jimmy Doan can help. With lengthy experience in water injury, The Doan Law Firm P.C., can provide answers for some of the toughest questions of water-related injury and death. He can get compensation for victims – and keep others from suffering the same tragic fate. Contact the Doan Law Firm, P.C., led by Houston personal injury attorney Jimmy Doan, at 1 Riverway, Suite 2055, Houston, Texas 77056, (713) 869-4747 or (800) 910-FIRM.
