How Do We Keep Our Children Safe Around Swimming Pools?
April 10th, 2016 is a day that many residents of Ft. Oglethorpe, GA are unlikely to forget. It is the day that two-year-old Noah Reyna drowned in an apartment pool while his parents slept nearby. The frantic 911 call hit the papers soon after with the caller stating, “Please, can you get someone out here to the Oglethorpe Ridge Apartments right now? There’s a toddler in a pool, and we think he might have drowned.” (1) Shortly thereafter, the distressed caller exclaimed that the baby had indeed drowned. The city of Ft. Oglethorpe subsequently charged the parents with second-degree murder. (1) Detective John Lanham with the Ft. Oglethorpe police department stated that the toddler’s death could have been prevented. “At two years old, you don’t have the mindset to really know right from wrong, just that you want to play in the water.” Cases such as this beg the question of what steps people should take to assure that their children or the children of others are safe around pool areas.