A pair of tragic drowning accidents occurred over the weekend of May 4th and 5th in Harris County. Both cases involved young children drowning in publicly accessible swimming locations. Investigations into both drowning accident cases are ongoing as of this time. There is some basic information available about both incidents.
3-Year Old Girl Dies in Drowning Accident
The first drowning accident over the course of the weekend occurred at Sylvan Beach Park. The drowning at the park involved a 3-year old girl. The little girl was underwater for an unknown period of time before she was discovered unresponsive.
The child was discovered in the water when a pair of people walking along the beach noticed her unmoving body in the water. There evidently was no one else around at the time. One of the two people walking along the beach was an off-duty paramedic who immediately began to perform CPR on the child.
Emergency medical personnel were dispatched to Sylvan Beach. The toddler who was transported to Bayshore Hospital. Upon her arrival at the medical center, the child was pronounced dead.
The investigation in this drowning accident case is ongoing, including attempting to ascertain how the young child apparently ended up at the beach without adult supervision.
6-Year Old Boy Victim of Drowning Accident in Community Pool
On Sunday, May 5, 2019, a second child was the victim of a drowning accident in Harris County. This drowning accident involved a 6-year old boy who was discovered face down in a community swimming pool by a lifeguard. The community pool is restricted to members of a surrounding neighborhood.
Emergency personnel were dispatched to the scene and performed CPR on the boy. The child was transported to Texas Children’s Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Many questions remain regarding the circumstances surrounding the death of the child. For example, no information has been provided as to whether other people were in the pool at the time of the incident. In addition, investigators have yet to report whether or not the lifeguard was actually on duty and at his post prior to the time of the drowning accident.
The community pool is generally surrounded by a fence with a gate. There is also a clubhouse at the scene that allows passage through the building from outside the fence perimeter into the pool area itself.
There is some speculation about what may have occurred before the boy’s death, although absolutely nothing definitive has been released via the ongoing investigation. There is some discussion that no one was at the pool area at the time the child arrived. He was able to gain easy access to the pool itself by either walking through the referenced clubhouse or passing through the gate. Assuming the child lived with his family in the neighborhood, his household would have had a passkey to the pool facility. On the other hand, it is also possible that the gate itself was not locked at the time or that the clubhouse did provide easy access to the pool in the manner just described.
As mentioned, a lifeguard did find the boy face down in the pool itself. Evidently, the lifeguard was not on the pool deck for at least some period before or perhaps during all of the time the child was in the pool. A drowning accident lawyer would note that this is an important question that must be resolved when it comes to the issue of what party or parties might bear responsibility for this child’s death.
A Drowning Accident Lawyer and a Wrongful Death Case
When a child loses his or her life in a drowning accident, a surviving parent may be able to pursue what is known as a wrongful death case. In Texas, a drowning accident wrongful death case must be brought within two years of the incident. In order to obtain justice, a parent or other individual who has lost a loved one can consult with a Doan Law Firm drowning accident lawyer by calling (800) 349-0000. The drowning accident lawyer hotline is staffed around the clock, 365 days a year, including on all major holidays.
The Doan Law Firm has a drowning accident lawyer fee guarantee. The firm never charges a fee unless a settlement or judgment is obtained for a client. In other words, you pay nothing unless we win for you.
