Posted on 10/16/2009 11:05:51 PM PDT by My Favorite Headache
ORLANDO, Fla. -- Three people drowned Friday afternoon in a condominium pool in Orange County, a fire department representative said.
Authorities were called to the Laurel Hills Condominiums at 7101 Balboa Drive just after 5 p.m. regarding three possible drowning victims -- an adult, a child and a teenage girl.
Images From The Scene A neighbor said an adult had a key and let the three people into the fenced-off pool. The neighbor said it's common for people who live in the area to have keys to the pool.
Neighbors said other children saw the people floating in the pool and were screaming and ran for help. Another neighbor said the pool is closed and that they never see children there.
When a deputy arrived, he kicked in the locked gate, pulled two of the victims from the pool and then a passerby pulled out the third. Jeff Williamson, of the Orange County Sheriff's Office, said the deputy and the passerby made heroic efforts to save the victims.
"All three victims of this incident were found in various levels of distress and administered aid at the scene and transported by emergency personnel to local hospitals for follow-up," the OCSO said in an e-mail to the media.
"It sounds like the K-9 deputy was pretty heroic in his efforts," Williamson said. "My understanding is the K-9 deputy took his gear off and dove directly into the pool."
The Orange County Fire Department said two of the victims -- the adult and the child -- were taken to Health Central Hospital in Ocoee. They were pronounced dead at the hospital.
The adult who died was identified as 38-year-old Phillip Casseus and the girl was identified as Ruth Casseus.
More Phillip Casseus, 38
The third victim, a 12-year-old, was taken to Orlando Regional Medical Center and later died.
Relatives said the two children were not good swimmers and may have ventured too far in the pool. That's when Casseus attempted to save them, but lost his life in the process, they said.
"He tried to get them," said Casseus' father, Dieusseul. "But he didn't know how to swim himself. I lost my son and my first great-granddaughter."
Neighbors said they were shocked at the drownings.
"It's very traumatic," said Cleretta Lampkin. "I have never seen anything like this before."
In the city, little kids learn to swim only if their parents take them to the pool. And they learn to swim well only if they go a lot. The Unified Field Theory of black-white differences in 21st century America probably comes into play here: it's harder for single parents to make the time for this, especially if the local pool isn't within easy walking distance and you don't have a car.
This is horrible but I can never understand not teaching a child to swim. My kids could all swim by 4 but when they got a bit older I put them on the swim team. The cheapest swim lessons you could get and the most intensive. They learned to shallow dive, and 4 different strokes, they also had to swim laps instead of just splashing around. I could care less if they won any ribbons I wanted them to be strong swimmers.
I’m just waiting for the usual suspects to start posting sick “jokes” about the poor souls that died. No matter how horrible the tragedy, they always show up and share their gallows “humor.”
In my old neighborhood I remember as a kid hearing constantly about black kids drowning in local lakes and canal’s when they would be playing on rope swings off trees that would eventually have the person wind up going into the said lake or canal. Why even take the risk if you know you can’t swim at all?
Gotta cover the proverbial bases ya know.
Growing up in Florida all kids should be taught to swim...sorta a mandatory thing if you are surrounded by water everywhere it makes sense to. I started swimming when I was 3. My son learned when he was 2 and my daughter has been in the pool since 7 months...we had her in this huge floating mat just to get her used to the water....today she is going to be 2 and can spend all day in the pool if she could ;)
That sounds to me like inadequate supervision/instruction. The Unified Field Theory still holds.
Did the same with my daughter. I learned to swim on my own. I got tired of the brother and his buddies swimming and me just standing and watching, so I jumped into the pool and swam across, the life guard had a fit but since I made it all the way she let me swim in the deep end after that:)I was 5.
Pretty much correct, as I recall.
Huh. Never saw that ‘stereotype’ where I live. All my black friends could swim. Of course, I live in West Michigan so I think ts a rule you have to swim regardless!
Prayers up for their loved ones. Bravo Zulu, deputy and passer-by.
I bet that blacks have a heavier, denser bone structure and don’t float as well, but there are a lot of cultural things that go into it as well. The women and girls don’t like what the chlorine water does to their hair. Unlike Barack Obama, most Blacks don’t spend a lot of time sun bathing. Indoor pools and swimming laps is just not that exciting.
I bet that blacks have a heavier, denser bone structure and don’t float as well...
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LOL, huh? You wanna’ run that by me again? Any documentation for this theory?
As a white man I wasn’t aware of my superior flotation abilities, you learn something new every day!
it's better if they know how to swim... and if the adults in charge know how to swim...
haha! it's actually a racial comment, not racist... /s
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