Parents... what the...???

PM_Mama00 · #1 07-06-2002, 04:21 PM

With all the stories going around about parents leaving their children in the nasty heat in cars, you gotta wonder what is wrong with parents? For instance, where were the parents/guardians/caretakers of these children? It's such a sad story and it really makes you wonder....

Three Brothers Drown In Florida Pool
Case Treated As Homicide, For Now
Posted: 3:07 p.m. EDT July 6, 2002

FORT PIERCE, Fla. -- Three Florida brothers -- aged 9, 7 and 4 -- drowned Friday in a residential swimming pool next door to their own home.

Police are investigating the deaths as possible homicides, although there's no evidence of foul play.

Fort Pierce police said no one was home at the neighbor's house when the boys went into the pool.

When a woman who lives there came home from work, she found one boy face down in the water. She dragged the youngster out of the pool and ran inside to call 911. Racing back outside, she realized two other boys were also motionless in the pool. An arriving officer pulled them out.

Paramedics performed CPR on James, Jon Paul and Ocnel Metelus, but all three were pronounced dead at a local hospital.

Copyright 2002 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

http://www.clickondetroit.com/sh/new...06-140708.html

ROWDYsister · #2 07-06-2002, 05:10 PM

Hmm...it's not unusual for children to drown near their homes. It's tragic and could be prevented with some child-proof barriers, swimming lessons, and instructions from parents to not go anywhere near water without supervision, but sometimes these kids still slip through the cracks. (It's like toddlers having accidents with cribs or strangling themselves...it's not that the parents are neglecting them.) Children usually cannot be watched 24 hours a day everyday but preventative steps can be taken to reduce the risks.

This particular case is a little strange, though, so I can see how homicide might be a possibility. For one thing, I would think most kids in Florida would be able to swim given our proximity to the ocean and many houses in the state having pools. Plus, it's strange that all three kids drowned. Maybe one was struggling and the others tried to help?

Whatever the case, can you imagine the devastation the parents and family must be going through? I would think the last thing they need is to have people telling them they're bad parents. For the rest of their lives they can only say, "What if?" and warn others to protect their own kids. We can't condemn the parents yet.

Peaches-n-Cream · #3 07-06-2002, 09:56 PM

That story is an absolute tragedy. Water safety is very important and could have saved these lives.

squirrely girl · #4 07-06-2002, 10:36 PM

at first i thought it was kinda weird for all three of them to die. then i remembered that cornfields are big in ohio. and one year this guy was in a corn silo when it caught on fire. his son ran into rescue him and collapsed from smoke inhalation. then the grandfather ran in to help too. the grandfather ALSO collapsed from smoke inhalation and all three of them died.

so...i guess it COULD be an accident. but dang. i'd still suspect some kind of foul play. ehhhhhhh...

marissa

ZTAMichelle · #5 07-06-2002, 10:57 PM

It's Florida for heaven sake. Most kids I know are VERY in the know on water safety. Of course perhaps a 4 year old may not know, a 7 yr old SHOULD and most definetly by 9 it should be standard knowledge, but I guess this isn't obvious to every one. Even the kids next door to us would never come over to swim while we're away without a parent with them or watching them with a phone in their hand.

Ft. Pierce like many towns, has a good side and a really bad side...I could see it being a shady situation. God bless their mom and their neighbors.Such a shame...

PM_Mama00 · #6 07-07-2002, 02:26 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by ZTAMichelle
It's Florida for heaven sake. Most kids I know are VERY in the know on water safety. Of course perhaps a 4 year old may not know, a 7 yr old SHOULD and most definetly by 9 it should be standard knowledge, but I guess this isn't obvious to every one. Even the kids next door to us would never come over to swim while we're away without a parent with them or watching them with a phone in their hand.

Ft. Pierce like many towns, has a good side and a really bad side...I could see it being a shady situation. God bless their mom and their neighbors.Such a shame...

I guess I kinda worded my thoughts wrong. I know in Michigan if you have an in-ground pool you have to have a wooden fence around. Children could easily go through that. But what I don't understand is where the guardian/parents/whatever were when the children went over there to swim? I feel horrible for the family who lost these 3 children, but what mother in their right mind would let children that young go swim by themselves? I think it'd be obvious if your children are leaving the house in swim suits, or if you don't see them around anywhere. Parents should know where their children are, especially at that young of an age. I could never let my 10 yr old cuzin go swimming without supervision, and he knows how to swim! Be it Florida, Michigan, Cali, Italy, whatever. This has got to be a case dealing with child neglect or homicide.

If anyone gets any updates on this story please post!

mmcat · #7 07-07-2002, 08:30 AM

my thoughts and prayers are with the family.

DeltAlum · #8 07-07-2002, 10:19 AM

It's impossible to judge the parents in this situation without more details than the article provides.

In a perfect world, parents always know where their children are. In the real one, phones ring, people come to the door or some other thing distracts for just long enough for a tragedy to happen. Like running into the street and being hit by a car -- or like this one.

It doesn't take long, and until you've raised children, it's nearly impossible to imagine how hard it is to keep track of them every second of every day -- no matter how hard you try. It's also remarkably easy to become overconfident as your children grow older and you expect them to take care of their younger siblings. (Granted, a nine year old shouldn't be given mortal responsibility)

In our area recently two young brothers drowned in the middle of a pool party! There were twenty or thirty friends and adults around who simply lost track of the two for a couple of minutes. Our daughter, who is a trained lifeguard, and our son-in-law tried to help another lifeguard who happened by and pulled the kids out of the water -- but their CPR attempts were futile. (To clarify, this was a private pool and no lifeguard was on duty -- our duaghter lives close by and the other guard heard the calls for help as he was passing by) We've probably all heard (at least I have many times) of people drowing in public pools with qualified, professional lifeguards on duty.

Bad things can happen very quickly.

The quoted article doesn't say whether the three boys were good swimmers or not. The two in our local case were allegedly were.

I'm not necessarily excusing the parent(s) in this case. If they are charged, it is probably because he police know something we don't. The boys may have been told never to go near the pool by timeselves and simply disobeyed.

Remember, though, some parents are negligent, some are dumber than a brick, some don't care -- and some are good parents who simply lose control of a situation for just long enough to have tragic results. If we were all perfect there would never be a traffic accident or any other kind of traumatic situation.

No matter what the case, the children and the parents need our prayers.

ROWDYsister · #9 07-08-2002, 02:05 AM

From the Miami Herald..."My babies were good boys"

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/3613971.htm

PM_Mama00 · #10 07-08-2002, 01:08 PM

Answers a lot of questions, but it's too bad that the one most important question will never be answered... why/how were the boys over there?