Boy, 13, drowns in closed city pool
A 13-year-old boy died after he climbed the fence of a closed city pool Sunday afternoon, went for a swim and never came back up.
The incident happened a little after 4:30 p.m. at the L.E. Brown pool at 617 S. Orleans, just south of Downtown.
The cool water must have been a tempting sight on a day when the sun came back out and temperatures swelled a bit.
According to police, four boys climbed the fence of the city-operated pool, which is closed on Sundays and Mondays. The fence looked specifically designed to discourage that, as it was tall with implements on top to make climbing more difficult.
“One decided to jump in and go swimming. He went under the water,” Memphis Police Maj. Tony Rudolph said.
An employee stares into the water at L.E. Brown community pool on South Orleans shor tly af ter a 13-year-old drowned there on Sunday af ternoon, when it was closed.
The other boys panicked, Rudolph said, and ran to a nearby fire station to get help. Around 4:45 p.m., Memphis firefighters arrived and pulled the boy from the water. They started CPR and rushed the boy to Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital, but it was too late. The youth’s name had not been released.
The drowning echoes a pair of swimming-related tragedies that hit Memphis a little more than seven years ago, believed to be the last time a child drowned in a Memphis public pool.
On May 31, 2008, a 13-year-old boy died at Pine Hill Community Center in South Memphis around 2:30 p.m. Barely a half-hour later, a 15-year-old boy died at the Westwood Community Center. The deaths caused city officials to temporarily shut down all community pools to try and make them safer.
Also, in June 1998, two children were hospitalized after nearly drowning in the pool at Gaisman Park.
City officials did not return calls for comment.