Articles Posted in Swimming Pool Injuries

An awful tragedy struck two families today at a pond in Worcester.

Worcester Police received multiple calls reporting that someone was possibly drowning Green Hill Pond at around 1:35 p.m.  Several officers responded and immediately went into the pond to rescue the struggling swimmer, reportedly a 14-year-old boy.  Officers brought two people out of the water, but then discovered an officer was missing.  Following a search, officer

Enmanuel “Manny” Familia was found about an hour later and was pronounced dead at a local hospital. Familia was with the Worcester Police Department for five years.  He leaves his wife, Jennifer, and two young children, Jayla and Jovan.  The teenager, whose name has not been released, was located shortly afterward and taken to a local hospital, where he too was pronounced dead. Surprisingly, a diver was also taken to a hospital for minor injuries.

I’ve written about this topic before during summer, but it bears repeating, especially in view of some recent Massachusetts drowning accidents: Unless someone is an expert swimmer, swimming is & always has been a hazardous activity. Of course – who doesn’t want to dive in to a nice cool pool, pond or ocean when it’s summer and hot outside? That’s perfectly normal and natural. I don’t intend to be a “killjoy” here, but in my experience as a Massachusetts drowning accident lawyer, too few people – especially kids and even their parents – stop to think how dangerous this fun activity can really be.

One accidental gulp of water, one disorienting plunge underwater, one wrong-way fall into the water, and a swimmer can end up in real trouble, in a couple of seconds. Panic then ensues, and the swimmer can lose his or her clear thinking, and slip underneath the water. I’m sorry to be so direct, but the next stop can be brain damage from lack of oxygen. Just this past Monday, an 18-year-old lost his life while swimming at Upper Mystic Lake in Medford. According to the Middlesex County District Attorney’s office,(Note: District Attorneys’ offices always investigate accidental deaths as a matter of standard procedure) the young man – a recent immigrant from Nepal who graduated only days before from Medford High School – did not know how to swim. Like many kids, all he knew was that he was hot and wanted to jump in the water. He had planned to attend UMass Amherst in the fall; now he is dead.

And this wasn’t the only drowning tragedy this year in Massachusetts — in June, Clinton High School freshman drowned in a pond. Unfortunately, if statistics hold true, this won’t be the last time this happens this year. The USA Swimming Foundation conducted a study in 2017, which found that over 60 per cent of children are a drowning risk – because they have basically don’t know how to swim safely. (No, safe swimming isn’t just jumping into the water.) Low income areas can see higher rates of the problem: It’s been reported that almost percent of kids from low income families have no to very limited swimming skills.

As I write this post, I am on Cape Cod, in the early hours of July 4 2018, having spent a glorious, happy day on the Cape Cod National Seashore. I am, with thousands of other people, celebrating our nation’s Independence Day. Everyone seems happy.

Yet, hidden among the pleasure, happiness and enjoyment that bring so many people to Cape Cod in summer, tragedy can occur . It happened most recently within a subject matter that I have blogged about previously: The subject of swimming pool accidents, and of how dangerous swimming pools actually are. In fact, while they are nowhere near as common as other types of accidents such as car accidents, truck accidents, or slip-and-fall accidents, Massachusetts swimming pool accidents are not exactly rare. Swimming pool injures are quite common, and when the reasons for this are examined, it’s not surprise why these types of injuries happen. Continue reading

Oh those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer. Those days of soda, and pretzels, and beer.

But there’s one thing singer Nat King Cole forgot. Summer always bring with it swimming pools – and inevitably – and sometimes tragically – serious swimming pool accidents. That can involve everything from diving into the shallow end of the pool, causing brain injuries and death, to slipping on concrete surfaces, to fatal drowning accidents.

I’ve written several previous blog posts about how swimming pools bring with them inherent risks of serious personal injuries. The risks of swimming pool injuries are very high. This is an area of law known as “premises liability” or “product liability.” The pool might be an in-ground/built-in, or an above-ground portable. It often makes little difference. As a Dedham/Boston accident lawyer, I can assure you pools can be very dangerous – if not deadly.