Video Shows Kids Shocked In Hialeah Pool
HIALEAH (CBSMiami) - It's three minutes of video that may make you cringe when you see it--children unable to escape a pool as it becomes electrically charged.
The video released by Hialeah Police Wednesday completes a better picture of what happened at the Palm West Garden apartments last month.
It starts out as a very typical Sunday afternoon at the pool. Kids are playing. Parents and grandparents are supervising when suddenly something goes wrong.
The video shows a little girl touch the hand railing and immediately she is shocked. Her father quickly reacts, getting shocked himself as he pulls her out. Her body appears lifeless. As the pool empties out, one child is still attached to the railing unable to move. Electricity makes your muscles contract which means you can't move. That becomes quite clear when Freddie Cabrera enters the video. He reaches in for his granddaughter Daniella. As he touches her, he feels a charge which causes him to fall back as he's pulling her out. His quick reaction may have saved her life.
Today crime scene tape still surrounds the pool deck and the pool is drained. Thus far a preliminary investigation has pointed to unconnected ground wires in the pool pump house. The wires are supposed to take electrical charges to the ground, away from the pool.
Crime scene photos show the wires hanging in the air rather than heading toward the ground.
CBS4 reported the pool passed a 40 year inspection last year. Also, CBS4 has learned that the pool passed two health department inspections last year. The inspection forms go well beyond the health of the water, but have boxes and requirements that the pool be up to electrical code. The pool passed. But just four months later, the incident happened--which brings about a lot more questions about the integrity of these inspections. If people are checking this out and passing it, how could this happen? CBS4 is continuing to investigate.
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