A 3-year-old boy named Owen was at his aunt’s house for Easter. While the adults were preparing dinner, the boy slipped out of the house. He was found hours later, unresponsive in a pool at the aunt’s house in Rensselaer County in New York.
The boy was reported missing not long after he exited the house without immediate notice by the adults at the Easter celebration. The police were called to the scene. Law enforcement, together with about 100 people from the community of Pleasantdale, conducted an intense search in the area surrounding the aunt’s home.
What none of these people knew initially was that the child had not ventured far from the residence. He had drowned in the pool at the aunt’s home.
Emergency rescue professionals attempted to revive the child when he was pulled from the pool. He was unable to be revived and was pronounced dead.
The police issued a brief statement in the aftermath of the Easter Day drowning:
We are extremely saddened by this tragic event, and ask that the public continue to pray for this family as they grieve the unimaginable loss of their child.
A person from the community involved in the search for the boy explained her feelings associated with the tragedy:
I can't explain to you the plethora of emotions we all felt in such a short amount of time. You go from frantically searching and afraid of what you might find or even worse, that he won't be found, to elated to hear he was found and then immediately heartbroken after hearing where he was found and his condition.
At the present time, there is no specific information about deficiencies in the manner in which the pool area was secured. It does seem that the pool was not properly secured if a 3-year-old child was able to access the pool itself.
The most commonplace reasons why individuals end up injured or killed in residential drowning accidents include:
- Failure to properly secure a pool area (which can result in a child being the victim of a near-fatal drowning incident)
- Lack of suitable emergency and safety equipment at a pool
- Improper monitoring of pool area (lack of attention by a lifeguard at a pool)
- Dangerous defects to a pool or pool deck
The law in New York and across the country requires that four elements be satisfied when making a claim arising out of a drowning accident:
Duty of care (owner of a pool has a responsibility to have it in a safe condition)
- Breach of duty of care (failure of a pool owner to maintain a safe condition)
- Breach results in a drowning accident (inadequate lifeguards at public pool)
- Actual injuries (victim of negligence must sustain actual and not possible or prospective injuries)
If you’ve lost a loved one in a drowning accident, The Doan Law Firm is here for you. A nationwide law firm, you can connect with an experienced drowning accident lawyer by calling us at (800) 349-0000. Our drowning accident attorney telephone line is staffed 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, including all major holidays.
We can schedule an initial consultation and case evaluation with a drowning accident lawyer at any one of our 40 offices located across the country. We can also arrange a virtual appointment with a drowning accident lawyer online as well. There is never a charge for an initial consultation and case evaluation with a Doan Law Firm drowning accident attorney.
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