Deer Lake club drowning: Sheriff says child was left in pool with no adult supervision while mother ate, drank in bar/restaurant

The mom of the 4-year-old Sterling Heights woman who drowned final Friday night on the Deer Lake Athletic Membership in Independence Township had left the kid to swim with 5 different kids — the oldest simply 12 years previous — and was within the membership’s bar/restaurant when her daughter misplaced her life, officers mentioned.

In line with the Oakland County Sheriff’s Workplace, the mom and one other lady had taken their six kids, ages 4 to 12, to the pool and left them with out grownup supervision, a direct violation of the power’s guidelines that prohibit minors from swimming with out anybody 16 or older current. The 2 indicators additionally state that there is no such thing as a lifeguard current.

An investigation revealed that the 2 ladies had positioned a number of flotation gadgets within the pool with the youngsters earlier than leaving them unattended whereas they went to the bar/restaurant and ordered meals and drinks, the sheriff’s workplace mentioned.

The kid who drowned was pulled from the pool by her sister, the sheriff’s workplace mentioned, after which the 2 ladies had been situated. They’d been within the bar-restaurant space for about 35 minutes at that time, the sheriff’s workplace mentioned.

Officers had been dispatched to the membership, situated within the 600 block of White Lake Highway, for a doable drowning at roughly 7:30 PM that night. After they arrived, the kid was on the pool deck and two males and a lady had been performing CPR, the sheriff’s workplace mentioned. Officers took over till Independence Township Fireplace Division paramedics arrived and transported the kid to an area hospital, the place she was pronounced lifeless.

The depth of the pool ranged from ten to 5 toes and no life preservers had been seen, the sheriff’s workplace mentioned.

“This can be a horrific and tragic loss of life that would simply have been prevented.” Sheriff Mike Bouchard reported this in a press launch. “We all the time encourage that not solely is there an grownup current at any kids’s swimming exercise, however that one grownup is particularly tasked with watching and never simply the realm. We’ve seen instances the place kids have drowned in a pool surrounded by adults.”

The investigation is in its remaining levels and, when accomplished, will likely be forwarded to the Oakland County Prosecutor’s Workplace for assessment and doable legal prices.