Cape condo where two children drowned had no pool fence
The News-Press
Michael Braun
16 May 2017

Photo: Ricardo Rolon / The News-Press

Florida: A former homeowners association board member at a Cape Coral condo complex where two young children drowned Monday night said a pool perimeter fence was removed earlier this year.

The two children, ages 1 and 3, were found motionless by their father in the apartment complex pool. Both were later confirmed dead by drowning. The Florida Department of Children and Families has opened an investigation into the deaths.

Roxann Seroski, formerly a vice president of the Aurora Townhouse Condo Association, said the fence that used to rim the pool area was removed in January.

"If that fence would have been there, this never would have happened," she said. Seroski, who said she no longer lives at the six-apartment unit, also said removal of the fence was not voted on by the Aurora homeowners association.

"It was there until January," she said. Seroski added that the fence was removed about the same time a former wooden backyard fence was removed and replaced by a white, vinyl fence.

There is a vinyl fence surrounding the rear of the property at 1330 SW 47th Terrace blocking access to the pool from outside the backyard area.

Photographs of the property on the Lee County Property Appraiser website dated Jan. 11, 2016, show the previous wooden fence as well as an interior metal fence around the pool.

Photos on the Cape Coral Parkway Condos website taken within the past year shows the rear of the Aurora Townhouse property with a white, metal fence surrounding the pool.

Calls to members of the Aurora Townhouse Condo Association were unsuccessful Tuesday. A call to a common number for board members Fernanda Quesada and Roy Leighnor was answered by a man who did not identify himself and hung up upon the caller's identification as The News-Press.

The DCF 's child death investigation was confirmed by Jessica Sims, DCF communications director.

"We’re absolutely devastated for this family," Sims said. "We will work to support them as much as we can as they grieve this extraordinary loss."

She added that DCF had no prior contact with the family.

Cape Coral police were called to the six-unit apartment building along Southwest 47th Terrace just off Cape Coral Parkway shortly after 10 p.m. Monday night.

A report from Cape police said officers found a 3-year-old male lying in the parking lot of the complex with the father, Eric Marchant Sr., 25, nearby saying that his children had drowned.

While an officer tried CPR on the child, another man came running out of the Aurora Townhouse complex, the report said, with a 1-year-old female still breathing. Emergency medical workers started CPR on the child.

Both children were taken to Cape Coral Hospital where they were pronounced dead shortly after 11 p.m.

The police report said Merchant had gone to the bathroom upstairs at his unit and when he came back down he found his children motionless in the pool.

Merchant told police he did not know how his children got outside to the pool.

On Merchant's Facebook page there are photos and a video of the Cape Coral father teaching the two children to swim as recently as April 25. There was no pool perimeter fence seen in the Facebook photos.

A new national poll found more than one-third of parents would allow their children to be in residential or hotel pools unsupervised. The poll, conducted by researchers at the University of Michigan, found parents underestimate the risk of drowning in pools where no lifeguard is present.

Mott Children's Hospital National Poll on Children's Health, found that only 16 percent of parents would allow their child to swim unsupervised in a lake and just 13 percent in an ocean, but 37 percent of parents would allow their child to swim unsupervised in a home, hotel or neighborhood pool.

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Property manager pushed for fence at Cape Coral complex where kids drowned
ABC 7 News (abridged)
16 May 2017

CAPE CORAL, Fla. -
Two children drowned in a pool at a Cape Coral condo complex, and it may have been prevented had the fence around the pool not been removed earlier this year.

It happened at the Aurora Townhouse Condos located at 1330 SW 47th Terrace just before 10:30 p.m. Monday.

The children — ages 1 and 3 — were transported to the hospital where they were pronounced dead around 11:30 p.m.

Neighbors watched as the horrific scene played out.

"We came out, and he was just screaming that his babies had drown," said neighbor Tommy Holoan.

"He was panicked; he was completely and totally panicked."

According to police, the father went upstairs to use the bathroom and came back down to find the children missing.

When he found them in the pool, he pulled them out and started yelling for help.

"It was crazy. Suddenly everyone came out at the same time, all the neighbors, and my husband did call 911, he was on the phone with him," Holoan said.

"They were carrying what looked like a lifeless little child into the ambulance, and then the baby in diapers was on the lawn, and they were trying to bring the baby back to life."

Both were transported to the hospital, but it was too late.

Merchant told police there is supposed to be a fence around the pool, which is law in Florida.

Our drone shows there is a fence around the property, but the pool is open to anyone outside.

there was a fence, but it was removed earlier this year by the condo association

ABC7 spoke with the property manager who says there was a fence, but it was removed earlier this year by the condo association.

"I advised the board that since there are children on the property, they need to put a fence back up," said Valerie Stark, manager since February.

A neighbor, who wants to remain anonymous, provided a photo of the fence that was there before she bought her property.

"The fence should have been there to prevent accidents like this from happening," the neighbor said.

"I wish there was something I could do. I just wish that it didn't happen and the fence was up, and I can't change that," Stark said.

Cape police said there can be no criminal charges relating to the fence because it's a regulatory issue. ABC7 reached out to the city to see if any violations have been written for the lack of a fence, but because it was after hours, we expect to receive an answer Wednesday.

The Department of Children and Families is also investigating and says it's the first time they've looked into this family.

Advice to parents to keep kids from drowning
ABC7 spoke to water safety experts who agreed that there isn't one single surefire way to prevent a child from drowning, but they say the key is a layered approach to water safety, with multiple levels of defense.

1st	Parental supervision is the most important layer of water safety. Experts recommend you keep a close and sober eye on your kids at all times near any body of water. That way you're there to snatch them up in the case of an emergency.
2nd	A fence around the perimeter of the pool area. Every owner should have one, and the gate should be latched and child-proofed at all times.
3rd	Sometimes kids can get around or through a fence. In the worst case scenario where a child reaches the water, that's when swimming lessons or ISR training can be a life saving skill. It teaches kids as young as six months old the skills to roll onto their backs in the water so they can float and breathe.
	That can buy parents precious seconds to save their kids from drowning.
	"It's like learning how to walk or crawl and it's something they're learning how to get used to, and we're teaching them to do it in a manner where they're actually able to help themselves as a last layer of protection," said Kathy Cole, ISR master instructor.
	"It gives you a couple seconds of security, knowing he'll be OK for a few seconds, but you still have to be on point. You can't ever take your eyes off of them. It's better to have the skills and not need them than need the skills and not have them," said Brent Gee, a father.
4th	The last layers of defense in an emergency situation are a cell phone and CPR training. Your cell phone so you can call 911, and CPR so you know how to resuscitate someone after they've been under water.

Drowning deaths
A new report released by the World Health Organization found an average of 3,000 kids die every day by preventable causes.

Drowning is among the top five causes.

Florida laws
In Florida, swimming pools are required to have a barrier at least two-feet high surrounding the entire thing. Any gates included in the barrier must be self-closing with a self-latching device.

All doors and windows that provide direct access to the pool from the home should have exit alarms.

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Investigation continues into Cape Coral drownings
ABC 7 News (abridged)
It has been 48 hours since a Cape Coral family lost their two children in a pool drowning.

Cape Coral police are investigating the drownings.

"The police need to fully investigate," said attorney Michael Raheb. "I don't believe going into it they're thinking the parent must be guilty of something."

Raheb says the investigation could take weeks or even months. He says police will likely look into how long the father left children alone and test him for drugs or alcohol.

"Child neglect is what you hear a lot, and that essentially is the parent or caregiver, whoever might be watching the child fails to give adequate security or care to the child," Raheb said.

"There was a fence there. So they took a compliant fence down. That was the barrier. That fence was going across there for a reason," said Adam Bechdel, vice president of Penguin Pools.

Bechdel is a pool contractor out of Cape Coral. He says when the homeowners removed the fence around the pool, they needed to make other changes to become code compliant.

"You do have to put up a barrier for the residence and for any neighboring residents," he said.

Florida law requires the latch opening to the pool has to be above 54 inches, well out of the reach of children. To prevent kids from pushing in on it, it has to open away from the pool. Lastly, the door has to close on its own behind you.

We showed Bechdel photos of the home and asked him if he saw anything wrong.

"Hinges on the outside," he said. "The handle is real low and there's no jam. That's open there."

“absolutely not” code compliant with Florida law

So after seeing these pictures, he believes the home's setup is "absolutely not" code compliant with Florida law.

Records show these condos were built in 1981, so they may have been grandfathered in, meaning they don't have to comply with Florida's current pool safety laws.

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Safety fence installed at pool where children drowned
Fox 4
19 May 2017

The city of Cape Coral is taking action at a condo complex where two young children tragically drowned in a pool earlier this week.

Friday, a pool barrier was installed around the pool at the Aurora Townhouse condos on Southwest 47th Terrace.

Monday night, a three-year-old boy and his one-year-old sister accidentally fell in while their father left to go the bathroom.

The barrier comes days after the city posted signs on the property deeming the pools unsafe. The property manager says a fence had previously surrounded the pool, but the condo association voted earlier this year to remove it.


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