Family of girl, 6, who drowned questions supervisors' actions

The family of a 6-year-old that drowned at Kimberley Park Pool said yesterday that she could not swim and that they had questions about how she was supervised.

"We do have concerns about it, but we don't know enough," said Betty Fowler, the great-grandmother of Ja'Nae McCullum.

Fowler said she signed a permission form for Ja'Nae to go on an outing with the Salvation Army Boys and Girls Club to the Wet ‘N Wild in Greensboro, not to a city pool with a deep end.

"That was on the paper that I signed for," she said. "I know they don't have a Wet 'n Wild at Kimberley."

Ja'Nae was on a club trip at Kimberley Park's pool Friday afternoon when a man spotted her underwater in the deep end and told a lifeguard in a nearby chair, Capt. David Clayton said.

The lifeguard immediately jumped in, pulled Ja'Nae out and began CPR. Paramedics took her to the hospital.

"They were not able to get her heart going again, which would mean it was a while, minutes at least" that Ja'Nae was underwater, said Dr. Donald Jason, who did the autopsy.

Jason said he found no signs of any heart ailment, or any injuries, and that it appeared to be an accidental drowning. He said he had yet to speak with police to learn more of the circumstances.

"I don't know how many kids were in the pool, if anybody noticed her having problems swimming or how deep was the pool," Jason said. "Somebody noticed something eventually, but I don't know how good a swimmer she was, or was she a swimmer at all."

Ja'Nae was not a swimmer, said Fowler, who had signed up Ja'Nae and her 7-year-old brother for swimming lessons through the Boys and Girls Club that would have started today.

The Salvation Army would not answer questions yesterday, saying in a statement that it would not comment out of respect for the family.

Asked if Ja'Nae's family had made that request, Maj. Terry Israel, who heads local programs, said "it's just the way that we chose to handle it."

"We made a commitment that we're not going to make a comment," he said.

There were two adults from the Boys and Girls Club supervising about 20 children on Friday, police have said. About 30 to 35 children were in the pool at the time, and eight lifeguards were on duty.

Typically, one lifeguard is in each of the two lifeguard chairs, and those two lifeguards have primary responsibility for watching the pool in 15 to 20-minute rotating shifts, said Dick Butler, the supervisor over city pools.

It's up to supervisors at each pool to decide the length of rotations, which can be as short as 10 minutes and as long as 30. Butler said that his investigation of the incident would look at where each lifeguard was and what they were doing when Ja'Nae drowned.

The lifeguard in the chair in the deep end of the pool was the one who pulled Ja'Nae out. The man who spotted her was not with the Salvation Army, Clayton said.

The lifeguards not in a chair have a secondary duty to supervise the pool, but their main work is collecting admission fees, cleaning bathrooms and other work.

The Kimberley Park pool has two diving boards above water 12 feet deep. It also has a shallow area for toddlers. There's a gentle slant in the section where the pool goes from 5 feet deep to 12.

Jason, the medical examiner, agreed that the case raises questions about supervision.

"It's something that needs to be investigated," Jason said. "There's always that question. Not knowing any of the circumstances, I'm not in a position to accuse anyone of anything. But it's something that in other cases similar to this, it has been an issue."

Ja'nae was a student at Easton Elementary School, said her great-great-grandmother, Rebecca Fowler.

Fowler said that Ja'Nae was a sweet child who loved to play with her 7-year-old brother and 4-year-old sister.

"She liked to model," Fowler said. "That was the love of her life -- to be a little princess."

■ Dan Galindo can be reached at 727-7377 or at dgalindo@wsjournal.com.

■ Paul Garber can be reached at 727-7327 or at pgarber@wsjournal.com.