Boy, 8, dies after drowning incident at Tacoma pool

The 8-year-old boy who nearly drowned last week at the Stewart Heights Pool in Tacoma died, Metro Parks Tacoma announced Thursday.

The boy had been at Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital since being pulled from the pool while unconscious July 27.

Hospital spokeswoman Marce Edwards confirmed the boy died Thursday.

“This has been a difficult week for all involved and the community at large,” Shon Sylvia, Metro Parks Tacoma executive director, said in a news release. “Please keep the child’s family and friends in your thoughts.”

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The boy had been at the pool with a daycamp from Peace Community Center, Metro Parks Tacoma spokesman Hunter George said. The nonprofit community center partners hosts its summer day camps at McCarver Elementary School on Tacoma’s Hilltop.

He was found unconscious by lifeguards in the Stewart Heights Pool, 402 E. 56th St., about 1 p.m., according to a Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department report documenting the incident.

The boy was in water 3 feet, 9 inches deep.

The lifeguard started CPR and used an automated external defibrillator, the report stated, which showed the boy still had a pulse and didn’t need to be shocked.

Medics took the boy to Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital, where he was in intensive care until his death.

The pool was closed for the day of the incident, but it reopened the following day.

The Stewart Heights Pool underwent a routine inspection July 19, which only had one critical violation: The water clarity was found to be marginal, according to that inspection report. However, the pool was found to have met the Health Department’s minimum standards.

The water was similarly cloudy Thursday, the inspector found, but it was not cited as a cause of the boy’s drowning.

Cox Media Group