A young boy drowned this past holiday weekend at a pool party, and investigators are looking into the incident.
A young Texas boy drowned on Monday, according to a La Marque Police statement.
According to a statement posted on Facebook, La Marque police are investigating the circumstances surrounding the drowning of a 6-year-old boy during a large pool party at a rented residential property.
La Marque EMS responded to the report of a possible drowning and arrived at the house shortly before 7 p.m.
Upon their arrival, EMS crews discovered an unconscious 6-year-old boy, and he was rushed to HCA Houston Healthcare Mainland Medical Center in Texas City.
The child died at the hospital, according to the authorities.
According to the local outlet Click 2 Houston, the police could not confirm how the boy got into the pool.
The child’s mother was at the home during the time of the drowning, and investigators said they are unsure if she was near the pool at the time of the incident, per the outlet.
It is protocol to do investigations for situations like these in the La Marque area, and the mother has been cooperative, according to the outlet.
Because the party may classify as a mass gathering — which requires a permit, even at times when at a private residence — police are looking to see if any city ordinances were violated, according to the outlet.
According to officers, the 3,800-square-foot home where the pool is located was rented out. The property owner was not on-site during the party but knows the person who rented the house, police said.
Investigators say this young boy’s drowning is not the first to occur at this address.
In 2014, a 4-year-old girl also fatally drowned while attending a birthday party at this same house. The girl’s family sued the owner of the house, claiming negligence in drowning.
County property records show the current house owner is the same person who owned the property in 2014, according to the outlet.
Alissa Magrum, a board member of the Texas Drowning Prevention Alliance, told the local outlet that drownings are common during holiday weekends.
The board member says that while drownings are fast and silent, they are also preventable.
“Last month, in June alone, we lost at least 35 Texans to fatal preventable drowning. That’s children and adults in all kinds of water,” Magrum said.
Magrum said to the outlet that non-fatal drownings are typically eight times as high.
“Certainly, our higher risk for younger kids are pools and bathtubs,” she said.
“So, the under 5′s. And then when we look at our older kids and going on into teens and adults, open water is our highest risk area.”
Magrum said that drownings continue to occur, and that learning CPR, knowing how to swim, and having family conversations and rules about water safety can all help.
“If you go to the beach, you have rules specific to that ... go near lifeguarded beaches. If you have a boat, wear life jackets. If you go to open water, wear life jackets,” she said.
Anyone with information regarding the incident is urged to contact Lt. Forrest Gandy at (409) 938-9235.
To provide information anonymously, contact La Marque Crime Stoppers at www.p3tips.com/741 or via telephone at (409) 938-TIPS (8477).
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