13-Year-Old Boy Drowns At Folcroft Swim Club While Pool Hopping With Group Of Friends, Police Say
FOLCROFT, Pa. (CBS) -- A 13-year-old boy is dead after drowning at the Folcroft Swim Club hours after it closed. Police say he was part of a small group of teens who were "pool hopping" in Delaware County before the tragic accident.
With a generally quiet summer nearly over, neighbors around the swim club woke to the sound of sirens very early Wednesday morning as police responded to a 911 call for drowning.
When officers arrived on scene, they found an unresponsive male in the deep end of the pool.
"When they arrived, all the lights were out. They went and got inside into the pool because the gates were locked. They finally got in and when they went and looked around in the pool, they found someone in the deep end," Folcroft Police Department Chief William Bair said.
Police are not releasing the victim's name.
A group of at least four teenagers from the Clifton Avenue area of Darby Township snuck out of their homes and decided to go pool hopping.
They slipped the gated fence at the swim club and started playing on floats in the deep end.
But the fun quickly turned to panic after the 13-year-old boy apparently tried to jump off the high diving board onto a float.
"The subject who is the victim was going to jump off and use that as he came in but landed on the other witness and the float went away from everybody," Bair said, "and then I guess it became a scramble."
Police say since the other three boys couldn't swim and help their friend, they ran away.
One of them -- a 15-year-old -- called 911 around 12:45 a.m. He didn't know which pool they were at and told dispatch he was from Darby.
As a result, police mistakenly went to the Briarcliffe Swim Club, which is almost two miles away.
Police are investigating the drowning as an accident and have not charged anyone.
Folcroft Swim Club was closed Wednesday and said in a Facebook post, "We would like to thank all of the first responders that provided assistance in this terrible event. We ask that everyone keep all families involved in their thoughts and prayers at this time."
A tragic accident occurred at our swim club last evening. Four teenagers, entered the property, after closing,...
Posted by Folcroft Swim Club on Wednesday, August 21, 2019
"Shocked because the pool is so quiet and they've never had any problems like this before," Nancy Smith, a neighbor, said.
The Delaware County District Attorney's Office will handle the investigation.
The pool will reopen on Thursday.