Drowning raises questions about pool safety laws

Homeowner pulls 5-year-old neighbor girl with special needs from pool

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – As police continue to investigate how a 5-year-old special-needs girl got out of her home Wednesday and drowned in a neighbor’s pool, News4Jax looked into state rules for pool safety.

Homicide investigators said Kyrie Michiah Johnson drowned about 5 p.m. Wednesday in a pool in the backyard of a home on Ortega Bluff Parkway, on the city's Westside.

The backyard of the girl's home on Knightsgate Court shares a fence with the backyard of the Ortega Bluff Parkway home.

News4Jax did not see a separate fence surrounding the in-ground pool.

Florida law requires new residential pools to have at least one of the following safety features:

  • A pool barrier enclosure at least 4 feet tall that is “separate from any fence, wall or other enclosure surrounding the yard”
  • An approved safety cover
  • Exit alarms on doors and windows leading to the pool
  • Self-closing, self-latching devices on doors leading to the pool
  • Alarm in pool triggered by accidental or unauthorized entrance into water

READ: Residential swimming pool safety act

The homeowners told News4Jax that the pool where Kyrie drowned was built before the state barrier requirements went into effect.

One of the homeowners spotted Kyrie in the pool Wednesday from surveillance footage on his cellphone and rushed home to pull her out. He performed CPR on her until rescue units arrived and took her to the hospital, where she died.

A neighbor told News4Jax that Wednesday was not the first time that Kyrie got out of her home. She said she has called the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office before to let them know that the 5-year-old had wandered off.

“This is something that I was worried might happen -- that, or snakes might get her,” Bertha Rollins said.

Rollins, who lives next door to the home where Kyrie drowned, said she she saw the girl's father walking down the street looking for her on Wednesday afternoon.

“When I saw the father yesterday as I was leaving my home and I looked back in the mirror and saw him coming to my house, I figured then that she was out,” Rollins said.

News4Jax crime and safety analyst Gil Smith said that even if a yard is fenced, caretakers have to keep a close eye on children wherever they are.

“When you're dealing with small kids, even parents who are very careful and really watch over their kids, it can happen sometimes,” Smith said. “It can be a 10- or 15-second period when the kid gets away from you.”

The sheriff's office is reviewing the homeowner's surveillance video to put together a timeline of when Kyrie got into the pool. Investigators are also looking into who was responsible for watching the girl when she left her home.

Family members had no comment Thursday afternoon. 

The Department of Children and Families released a statement about the drowning:

The death of this child is tragic and heartbreaking. DCF is conducting a full and thorough investigation, which began immediately after notification of this incident. We were contacted one time regarding this child more than a year ago. An investigation revealed no verified signs of neglect or abuse of this child.
Information on water safety is available on our website, http://myflfamilies.com/service-programs/child-welfare/summer-safety-tips.