Metro Police Lt. Dave Valenta speaks on pool safety during a news conference in the backyard of a northwest valley residence Wednesday, March 24, 2021.
Wednesday, March 24, 2021 | 6:10 p.m.
Upon first look, footage from a public service announcement released by Metro Police Wednesday shows a fun, sunny day at a pool with children splashing around.
What the viewer might not be able to immediately spot is a child falling into deep water.
Nearly two minutes elapse before the young boy is pulled out, according to Metro, which noted the child survived.
Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case for two children who did drown in the Las Vegas Valley this year, both within the last eight days, Lt. David Valenta said.
“One death is too many,” he said. “It’s a tragic incident that affects everybody’s life, and we can do everything we can to try to eliminate that.”
The first incident was reported about 5:30 p.m. March 16 at a house in the 4800 block of Tesoro Drive, near Hualapai Way and Town Center Drive, according to dispatch logs.
A 3-year-old boy was found unconscious inside a family pool, according to Clark County’s Division of Child and Family Services logs. Despite CPR attempts, he died shortly after arriving at a hospital.
About 6:30 p.m. Saturday, Metro was summoned to a house the 2900 block of Torrey Pines, south of Sahara Avenue, where a 3-year-old girl was found in her family’s backyard pool, according to Metro and CPS logs. She also died at a hospital.
Both families had no previous contact with CPS investigators prior to the drownings, and Valenta described the deaths as “tragic accidents.”
Valenta said that adults should closely care for children around all bodies of water and during all seasons.
He reinforced the “ABCDs” of pool safety:
• Adult supervision, which is the most important, he said.
• Barriers around bodies of water.
• Classes in which children learn how to swim and parents learn how to provide CPR.
• Devices, including floaties, and technological gadgets that can be placed in pool areas that alert adults when there’s movement.
A small distraction can be deadly and can affect anybody, Valenta said. “It affects all races, all walks of life. It doesn’t matter.”
