Boy, 11, to get $393,000 in suit over mishap at Sandy Lake pool

Carrollton among those to pay in drain accident

By: Brooks Egerton – Staff Writer of the Dallas Morning News - Tuesday September 23, 1997

A Coppell boy will receive nearly $400,000 for injuries suffered when his arm was sucked into an uncovered swimming pool drain at Sandy Lake Amusement Park in Carrollton. The city of Carrollton, which cleared the privately operated pool to operate a day before the near-drowning in May 1996, will pay an undisclosed part of the lawsuit settlement. Parties to the confidential agreement are barred from discussing it, but court documents confirm the deal’s existence and provide a few details. City Attorney Karen Brophy had vowed to “vigorously defend” Carrollton against the suit, filed by the family of 11-year-old Sean Chittenden. He was trapped underwater when his right arm got caught in an uncovered intake pipe.

The city, Ms. Brophy said in a February interview, could not be held responsible for what happened on private property. A city inspector indicated on a checklist that the Sandy Lake pool’s drains had been checked. However, Ms. Brophy and other city officails acknowledged that inspectors didn’t get in the water and examine drain covers at any of the hundreds of pools granted permission to operate that year. That policy of not checking covers remains in force, a city official said Monday. “I’ve had no directive to change any policies” since the suit was settled, said Scott Hudson, who oversees pool inspections. He referred further questions to Assistant City Attorney Clayton Hutchins, who did not return a phone message. Sandy Lake and a maintenance contractor also will make payments to Sean, court documents show. The boy was saved after rescuers broke his arm to free him, then administered cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

At a hearing in May 1997, state District Judge Candace Tyson ordered the million-gallon pool closed until an independent inspector examined it. The pool reopened a few days later after some repairs were made and officials promised more would be done in the off-season. Tom Self, part-owner of Sandy Lake and the pool’s manager, didn’t return a phone message Monday. After the May hearing, he said that the lesson of the accident was to “try harder. We do the best we can.” Several dozen people, most of them children, have been maimed or killed by uncovered pool and spa drains in the last 20 years, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. Records are incomplete because accident reporting isn’t required. The commission has been studying the problem for several months and plans to issue new safety guidelines as early as next week, spokesman Ken Giles said.

Commission staffers have been studying the effectiveness of multiple drains, which could prevent a deadly buildup of suction if a cover is missing and hair or a body part seals the opening. “Automatic shutoff switches that detect an increase in suction … probably are an effective backup provision,” a staff draft document says. Recently filed court documents say that Sean will receive $393,000, nearly half of which will go into a trust fund that matures on his 25th birthday. Payments are to cover medical bills, counseling for emotional trauma, schooling and other matters.

The total settlement amount was $812,000, which includes payments to lawyers for the plaintiffs and accident witnesses. The boy’s attorney declined to comment and asked that their client’s family not be contacted. John T. Thompson, an expert in municipal law, said that local governments are increasingly being held responsible for employees’ negligence. “We teach our managers, ‘You’d better watch out,’ ” said Dr. Thompson, a retired public administration professor at the University of North Texas and former municipal attorney. “Obviously, they [Carrollton employees] weren’t looking for things” at Sandy Lake, he said. “They didn’t expect it to happen.”

Boy, 11, to get $393,000 in suit

Dallas Morning News - Tuesday September 23, 1997

A Coppell boy will receive nearly $400,00 for injuries suffered when his arm was sucked into an uncovered swimming pool drain at Sandy Lake Park in Carrollton.

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