STUART — A 5-year-old boy drowned in his neighbor’s swimming pool June 14 — the second child in as many days in Martin County.
The boy was playing inside his home, a duplex on Hawthorne Street outside Stuart, while his mother bathed a younger sibling, said Martin County Sheriff John Budensiek. The boy’s mother noticed him missing, and she later found him in the duplex neighbor’s pool, he said.
It was unknown who pulled the child out of the pool, Budensiek said. Deputies were called to the home at 7:45 p.m. The child was taken to Cleveland Clinic Martin South Hospital, but was unable to be revived, he said.
“It’s certainly concerning to us,” Budensiek said. The same deputies and hospital workers who tried June 13 to save a 2-year-old girl who drowned in her Hobe Sound home were on duty and tried to save the 5-year-old boy, he said.
In the June 13 incident, police received a 911 call at 7:15 p.m. about a 2-year-old who had been swimming in the family pool on Mars Street, Budensiek said.
Four adults — including the girl’s parents — were in the home at the time, Budensiek said, in and out of the patio area where the pool was located. Two other children had been swimming with the toddler during the night, he said.
The toddler at one point was wearing a flotation device while in the pool, Budensiek said. However, “it appears she took the device off herself and jumped back into the pool,” he said.
Martin County Fire Rescue workers were unable to revive the child, who then was taken to Cleveland Clinic Martin South Hospital. She was pronounced dead at 8:40 p.m.
“This is a tragic day in Martin County,” Budensiek said in a recorded video on social media June 14. “This is the second time in 24 hours that the Martin County Sheriff’s Office/Martin County Fire Rescue and hospital staff have worked to try to save the life of a child that’s drowned here in Martin County. Unfortunately, both have passed away.”
Anyone who owns a pool, lives near a pool, or is a parent, grandparent or babysitter, should make sure the pools are safe, he said in the video.
“Make sure your pools are secure. Make sure you don’t take for granted that your child knows how to swim. Don’t take for granted that the flotation devices are working,” he said. “We have to work together to prevent these tragedies from happening in the future.”
Families need to be extra-vigilant, Budensiek said.
“This is the summertime when people are supposed to be enjoying their pools, not grieving,” he said.
(This story was updated with more information and a video.)
Colleen Wixon is the education reporter for TCPalm and Treasure Coast Newspapers. She covers schools in Martin, Indian River and St. Lucie counties.
This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Repeat tragedy: Boy, 5, drowns in pool; second such Martin death in as many days
Reporting by Colleen Wixon, Treasure Coast Newspapers / Treasure Coast Newspapers
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