4 year old dies at wave pool

[Honu]

"Liziel Pena, of Daly City, waited anxiously for her 11-year-old daughter in the parking lot outside the amusement park.

"I'm just worried," Pena said. "I don't know if she's allowed to go to Great America now, because I'm scared. Maybe I'll have to go with her." "

Taken from the story!! Since when is it opkay to ahve your 11 yr old go to a water park alone?? She may have to go with her?? Hello???!!! Of course you ahve to go with her, she's 11!!!

This is a big problem at this particular park. The annual passes are cheap and people just drop off their kids at the front gate. There are packs of kids everywhere. Cheapest summer camp around.

 

[Lotte07]

Piglet too - Thank goodness your son is all right.
I know how terrifying that must have been. We had a scare four years ago while staying at the Hard Rock Hotel in Orlando. My daughter, then 9 years old, and I were in the pool (which is actually rather shallow in most parts). I was sitting right there in the water with her when she almost drowned. She had one of those hair wraps done near the pool. It had a dolphin charm on the end. Well, she had her goggles on and was looking closely at the drain on the bottom of the pool. The dolphin charm went in the drain, turned and got stuck. She was down there, in only 3 feet of water, right next to me and couldn't get up. I had no idea that she was struggling. Luckily, she had the ability to tug the hair wrap out and swam up to get some air. She was not able to speak for several minutes to tell what had happened.
To this day I am a nervous wreck with my kids in pools. My heart breaks for that family.

 

[KirstenB]

Like a PP said, a drowning can be very fast and quiet. I have talked about this other places but will again here. My heart goes out to the mom, and wonder WTHeck was she thinking not keeping an eye on the boy. Sadly, she will have to live with that the rest of her life. I don't "blame" her just because she was naive enough to think he was safe. I also do not blame the lifeguards, because it is so easy to not see.

My DS8 almost drowned last summer. He had to be pulled from the pool and given CPR. My husband felt something bump into him, turned around and it was our son floating in the water. No one else at the party saw it, no one saw him go into the pool without his swimvest, no one saw him go under and struggle to reach the top. There had been someone there to watch the water, but she went in to go to the bathroom. We do not blame her, everything had been fine all day. It happened so fast and he never was able to reach the top of the pool to make a noise that someone may have heard. I am just so thankful that it was my husband that he bumped into, and not one of the other kids, They most likely would have thought he was goofing around and pushed him away.

The owners of the house we were at asked me (long after it had happened) if we would have held them responsible, since it was their pool. I told them of course not. I also told my friend to pass along to the lady who was supposed to be watching, that I don't blame her. Honestly, kids goof off so much in the water, it may be too late when you realize they are not playing.

I am just thankful that despite everything that went wrong, so much went right for us that day. Sadly that is not always the case, and then we get stupid debates like this one. Lets not place blame on anyone, because every one AND no one is at fault. It is a sad, sad thing, but maybe, just maybe, it will save the life of another child. Maybe this story will open up the eyes of a parent who used to let their small kids go with out life vests, and now they will wear them.

My heart goes out to you!!! I've been thinking about this thread and little kids and pools. We have a 9 yr old and an almost 2 yr old. ONe thing I've noticed about a LOT of young kids and water. If they get off balance, they literally slide under the water. They don't thrash around or anything. It's like they're SO disoriented they just lay still.

FWIW, our wave pool is at Water Country USA in Williamsburg. DH and I even wear lifevests there. It's VERY rough and fast moving. I dont' think our 2 yr old will even be allowed in there with a lifevest until she's 5. (The rest of the park is fine, but that wavepool is something else!)

 

[vettechick99]

OMG piglet too! I can't imagine. I got goosebumps reading your story.

It amazes me that parents think that leaving a 3 ft 4-year old alone in a huge wave pool is ok. I've never been the biggest gal, but I've always been a strong swimmer. When I was 14 I went to a wave pool and nearly drowned. I got caught in the middle, the waves were high enough to swallow me, and eventually they wore me down. If I hadn't known to ride the wave out, it would be extremely easy to drown. And if you just slip under the water, it would be very hard for a LG to see that you're in trouble.

How sad that this happened.

 

[debster812]

One thing our park does to keep the "boredom" factor at bay is the guards are rotated about every 1/2 hour. There is constant movement for a change of scenery, they do not just stand at the wave pool all day long.

This is standard procedure in any environment I've ever lifeguarded at, or witnessed.

I worked one summer at a pool that was 5 feet at it's deepest, and 3 feet at either end. There were always 4 of us in chairs, and one guard roaming the deck. We rotated every 15 minutes.

Ironically, this was the pool I made my most difficult rescue at. There was a group home about 2 blocks from the pool, so 2 times a week, the residents would come down to swim in the evening.

One of the residents lost his balance and tripped face down. He panicked, and did not realize he could just stand up (he was about 6' 2" and 300 lbs). I figured I could get behind him, and stand him up. No dice, he rolled, and trapped me under him, and under the water. It took 2 more of my fellow guards to pull him off me, and I was punching, kicking, pinching, for all I was worth.

 

[C.Ann]

From what I have read so far I don't see why the parents should receive compesation from the park. The only one that appears negligent at this point is the parent that not only allowed their 4 yr old in the wave pool w/o a lifejacket but also didn't supervise him..

--------------------------

Could you point me in the direction of where you read this information? The only thing that I could find was the article on page 1 of this thread which said:


"Great America general manager Bill Lentz said the boy was at the park with his mother and sister. Lentz said, however, that he did not know whether the mother and sister were with the child in the pool or were directly supervising him. "

-----------------------------

I don't see anything about his not wearing a life jacket, allowing him to be in the wave pool unsupervised, etc.. Did I miss an article somewhere?

Thanks!

 

[yeartolate]

'HOW COULD HE DROWN?'
Mother blames Great America park for death of her 4-year-old son in 2 feet of water in wave pool
Matthai Chakko Kuruvila, John Coté, Chronicle Staff Writers

Saturday, July 14, 2007

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Yolanda Flores sat in the garage of a family member's home in south San Jose on Friday, swathed in black, hugging her remaining 2-year-old son to her chest, and blamed the Great America amusement park in Santa Clara for the drowning of her 4-year-old boy.

Flores disputed key elements of the park's account of how the tragedy unfolded Thursday at the Great Barrier Reef wave pool, an expanse of churning water about half the size of a football field, where she had let the 4-year-old boy, Carlos Alejandro Flores, play unattended.

Park officials said six lifeguards were on duty when one spotted Carlos around 2:30 p.m. near the middle of the pool, where the water is about 2 feet deep when waves aren't rolling through. At its deepest point, the pool is 6 feet deep.

Flores, 27, said there were only four lifeguards at the pool at the time and that her 8-year-old daughter, Jasmine, was the one who spotted the boy underwater after he apparently had been there for several minutes.

"That's a lie that there were six," Flores said. "There's four lifeguards there. How can they not see my son? There's three walking and one sitting. They weren't doing their job. He was in 2 feet of water. How could he drown?

"I want this to be known," Flores said between sobs. "I want to warn all parents that they need to watch their kids at all times, because (Great America) doesn't do their job."

Great America officials insisted six lifeguards had been on duty at the wave pool. Lifeguards and paramedics tried to resuscitate Carlos before he was taken to Kaiser Medical Center in Santa Clara, where he was pronounced dead.

"We expressed the deepest sympathies to her and her family and her family friends for what has happened," park spokesman Gene Frugé said. "She is mistaken. There were certainly six lifeguards on duty."

Frugé said company policy also requires six lifeguards to be present before the wave pool is opened.

"We just want to let her know that safety is our No. 1 priority," Frugé said. "We won't open any attraction unless we feel it's safe."

Flores said she had not been in the pool with her son at the time and does not know how he drowned. The 4-year-old had been in the water earlier, got out to eat some chips and went back in, she said.

When he didn't return within 10 minutes, she said, she became concerned and told her daughter to find him. After Jasmine told her mother she couldn't see the boy, both started toward the pool, where Jasmine ultimately found him underwater, Flores said. The girl's screams attracted the lifeguards' attention, she said.

Great America has no age or height requirements for children at the wave pool. "We do recommend that children under 4 feet tall use life vests, and we have them readily available," Frugé said. "There is no official rule that requires it."

Carlos was 4 feet tall, his mother said. He was not wearing a vest but might not have been required to if the recommended height rule were mandatory.

Mechanized wave pools at water parks are largely unregulated by the state beyond annual inspections, officials said Friday as police and state inspectors began investigations into the boy's death.

There are no state requirements governing the number of lifeguards that must be on duty, nor are there age or height restrictions, said Kate McGuire, a spokeswoman for the California Occupational Safety and Health Administration. There is no requirement that children wear personal flotation devices.

Safety recommendations are outlined by an individual attraction's manufacturers, and state inspectors check to see if those guidelines are being followed, McGuire said. Great America's wave pool passed an unannounced state inspection three days before Carlos drowned, McGuire said.

The Santa Clara County coroner's office completed an autopsy on the boy Friday but refused to release the cause of death until the investigation is complete.

The Great Barrier Reef wave pool will remain closed indefinitely as the investigations continue, but the rest of Boomerang Bay water park at Great America reopened Friday, Frugé said.

Bill Avery, an aquatic safety consultant in Orlando, Fla., who formerly worked for several amusement parks, said adult supervision is crucial during water play.

"It gets down to some basic personal responsibility," Avery said. "People have to remain cognizant when kids are involved, I don't care what activity they're involved in. . . . As a father and grandfather, a 4-year-old with me in the water is not going to be more than a handgrip away from me at any time."

Anne Crawford, a San Francisco mother of three who brought her family to Great America's wave pool last month, described a crowded experience where swimmers were buffeted by the waves and people in rented inner tubes.

"It was amazingly crowded; we had two parents looking after one 7-year-old," Crawford said. "Once the waves started, it was hard to stay together. . . . The inner tubes are really a hazard to other guests because it is really easy to get trapped between several tubes as you bounce around in the waves."

Crawford said she saw lifeguards on the side of the pool but no lifeguards in the shallow entry area.

"At a minimum, Great America should require all kids 6 and under wear life vests in the wave pool, and that an adult accompany them in the water," Crawford said. A park spokesman said Great America does recommend that parents accompany young children.

Requiring flotation devices at a pool would be rare, if not unprecedented, in the country and difficult to enforce, said Brett Petit, a spokesman for Palace Entertainment in Newport Beach (Orange County), which owns nine water parks in several states including Raging Waters in San Jose.

"Where do you draw the line?" Petit said. "If a kid is splashing around in the shallows, does the kid need to have a life jacket on?"

Drowning is the leading cause of death for children 5 and under in California, according to the San Mateo County Health Department. There have been no drowning deaths in water-park wave pools in the state in at least five years, McGuire said.

At least six people have drowned in wave pools around the world since 2000, according to press accounts.

Parents have to "be vigilant all the time" with children in pools, said Sue Sherman, a spokeswoman for Lifesaving Society, a Canadian water safety group.

"That includes lifeguarded circumstances," Sherman said. "The lifeguard is your safety net. The first person that's responsible is the adult that takes those children to the pool."

C.Anne, this article states he was not wearing the flotation device.

Did you catch where the mother became worried after she did not see the child for 10 minutes and she sent the daughter (is this the 8 year old?????) back in to find him. She had time enough to go back in and comeback and alert her mother.

I have yet to see something in print about a lawsuit. It was a random newscast that made mention of it. At this point, unless the autopsy shows something odd or new witnesses come forward,it seems to point to lack of paretal supervison. I am sure that if she wants money, she can get some, though.

 

[C.Ann]

C.Anne, this article states he was not wearing the flotation device.

Did you catch where the mother became worried after she did not see the child for 10 minutes and she sent the daughter (is this the 8 year old?????) back in to find him. She had time enough to go back in and comeback and alert her mother.

I have yet to see something in print about a lawsuit. It was a random newscast that made mention of it. At this point, unless the autopsy shows something odd or new witnesses come forward,it seems to point to lack of paretal supervison. I am sure that if she wants money, she can get some, though.

------------------------------

Thanks! I hadn't seen this report so I didn't know what people were talking about when they said he was "unsupervised" - as that wasn't stated in the first article..

So sad.. I understand that the woman is grief stricken, but the water park doesn't appear to be responsible for this terrible tragedy in any way, shape, or form..

 

[poohandwendy]

C.Anne, this article states he was not wearing the flotation device.

Did you catch where the mother became worried after she did not see the child for 10 minutes and she sent the daughter (is this the 8 year old?????) back in to find him. She had time enough to go back in and comeback and alert her mother.

I have yet to see something in print about a lawsuit. It was a random newscast that made mention of it. At this point, unless the autopsy shows something odd or new witnesses come forward,it seems to point to lack of paretal supervison. I am sure that if she wants money, she can get some, though.

And especially telling:

I want to warn all parents that they need to watch their kids at all times, because (Great America) doesn't do their job."

It's a shame that she didn't feel the need to watch her own child at all times. It's hard to understand someone thinking it's ok to allow their 4 yo child unsupervised, for any length of time, at a pool.

 

[yeartolate]

I think the most productive and healthy thing she could do is to admit what really happened and champion the cause.

 

[polyfan]

Did I read the article right- the child is 4years old and 4 ft. tall? That doesn't sound right??

 

[Stimpy]

Did I read the article right- the child is 4years old and 4 ft. tall? That doesn't sound right??

That could be possible. My DS was 40" when he was 3.

 

[MichelleVW]

And especially telling:It's a shame that she didn't feel the need to watch her own child at all times. It's hard to understand someone thinking it's ok to allow their 4 yo child unsupervised, for any length of time, at a pool.

Ya think you should watch a 4 year old in a wave pool???!!!! It's tragic that the boy is dead and so sad that this death was totally preventable if his mother had been watching him!!!

How in the world can you blame the water park when you admit you didn't watch you son in a crowded wave pool!!!

This story makes me so mad...

 

[yeartolate]

I have to wonder what the reals tory is.

One article states the 8 year old was in the pool watching the 4 year old.

THis one says he came out for chips and they didn't see him for 10 minutes and the Mom sent the 8 yeear old in the pool to find him. THe daughter had timeto get out of te pool to tell mom and the 8 year old and the mom went in the pool to look for him.

I guess I am really disturbed becasue I think back on all the unsupevised young kids I have seen at waterparks in the past few years.

 

[Jpgirl]

We just had a 4 year old drown here in Houston yesterday. I also read in my local paper that a lifeguard saved a 3 year old from drowning in a sub division pool. The mother said that her daughter had slipped her swimmy wings off and jumped in . She also said that she was enrolling her 6 year old in lessons soon as a result of the 3 year old near drowning . Excuse me swimmy wings are NOT a substitute for lessons or parental supervision and why wait till 6 to get lessons??. My kids were 3 when they started and I was 5 when I started. They were not allowed in the pool until they could swim across the width. And I still supervised them. I go by the neighborhood pools in the mornings and there are only a handful of kids taking lessons but come afternoon the pool is packed with kids and not many adults. Geez, I'm not a great swimmer but my mom MADE me take lessons until I was in 8th grade-I was just going into junoir life saving. Thanks Mom.

 

[DisneyMommyMichelle]

How in the world can you blame the water park when you admit you didn't watch you son in a crowded wave pool!!!

EXACTLY! while I feel for this woman and all that she is going through, she needs to realize it is a PARENTS responsibility to watch over their children

 

[mickeyboat]

I tried to give the mother the benefit of the doubt until I read that last article.