“…Blackman Township Public Safety deputy director Jon Johnston says the boy was pulled from the pool, limp and unresponsive. He adds the the child was a guest at a birthday party among nearly 25 other kids when he ended up in the deep end…”
“There were several adults in the immediate pool area and the mother was in the gathering area surrounding the pool so it was situation where one the kids they lost track of,”
A four-year-old boy is recovering, in serious condition on Wednesday after nearly drowning in a hotel pool. It happened at the Avalon Hotel and Conference Center in Blackman Township late Tuesday night. A guest from Stevensville, Michigan is being credited with saving the child’s life.
“The water was a little murky but I knew I saw somebody at the bottom of the pool — little legs, little arms.”
Bettig and his family were at the Avalon Hotel, just off US-127 for a memorial service for his father. “We came home to sit around the pool and look at some pictures of Dad and about fifteen minutes into looking at the photos my son bought it to my attention that there was a boy floating in the water,” said Bettig. “If it wasn’t for his eyes noticing — a couple minutes could have gone by and the little boy might not have had a chance.”
He says the child was underwater for a couple minutes before Bettig dove in. The child was pulled from the pool with a strong pulse but not breathing on his own. He was taken to Allegiance Hospital and then flown to the University of Michigan hospital.
For more:Â http://www.wilx.com/news/headlines/125881063.html
It is indeed hard to understand how such a thing could happen. This certainly brings home the lesson that proper supervision of children around swimming pools is imperative – one feels for the child’s parents who probably lost sight of him for only a second. There is, however, another issue if, indeed, “the water was a little murky”. The expected standard of care would dictate that the facility would prevent use of the pool until water quality and clarity improved and, failure to do so may very well engender negligence and liability on the part of the hotel. For this reason I always place great emphasis on the proper operation and maintenance of public and quasi-public facilities, along with detailed record keeping in order to protect against negligence claims, in the National Swimming Pool Foundation’s “Certified Pool/Spa Operator Course” that I teach. Unfortunately, I have found that the lesson is not always learned.
It is indeed hard to understand how such a thing could happen. This certainly brings home the lesson that proper supervision of children around swimming pools is imperative – one feels for the child’s parents who probably lost sight of him for only a second. There is, however, another issue if, indeed, “the water was a little murky”. The expected standard of care would dictate that the facility would prevent use of the pool until water quality and clarity improved and, failure to do so may very well engender negligence and liability on the part of the hotel. For this reason I always place great emphasis on the proper operation and maintenance of public and quasi-public facilities, along with detailed record keeping in order to protect against negligence claims, in the National Swimming Pool Foundation’s “Certified Pool/Spa Operator Course” that I teach. Unfortunately, I have found that the lesson is not always learned.