Drowning victim, 8, had bruise on her scalp

Autopsy raises questions on girl's death

Charlie Goodyear, Chronicle Staff Writer

Friday, August 8, 2003

The autopsy of an 8-year-old girl who drowned during her swim lesson at a
Concord pool revealed a bruise to her scalp, authorities said Thursday.

"This is a significant condition that could have contributed to her death,"
said Jimmy Lee, a spokesman for the Contra Costa County coroner's office. A
pathologist concluded the cause of Sarah Deniston's death on Tuesday evening
was drowning.

The city of Concord has hired a pool safety consultant to investigate the
circumstances of Sarah's drowning. The girl was pulled unconscious from the
Concord Community Park pool Tuesday evening while 100 children were in the
water and 20 lifeguards were on watch.

Police had ruled out foul play by Wednesday and turned the case over to the
Concord Park and Recreation Department, which was not releasing details of
its investigation.

But some authorities theorized that Sarah had swum to an end of the one
million gallon pool, attempted a flip and hit her head on the pool wall,
possibly knocking herself out.

Lee said the right side of the girl's scalp was bruised.

Sarah's family, who live in Concord, declined requests for comment on
Thursday.

Mark Deven, Concord's director of Parks and Recreation, said he was not
aware of anyone seeing Sarah hit her head.

The investigation into the drowning will also focus on Sarah's medical
history, including her condition of asthma and any medications she may have
been taking, according to officials.

Deven said he did not know whether parents were required to provide medical
information to the department for children participating in the swim class.

Witnesses said Sarah had been found in about five feet of water near the
bend in the large L-shaped pool. She was pulled from the water at about 6:30
p. m. by lifeguards and was later pronounced dead at Mount Diablo Medical
Center after resuscitation attempts failed to revive her.

The popular, Olympic-sized pool, scheduled to close next month for a $1.8
million renovation, has been open since 1968. No one had drowned there
before Tuesday.

According to experts, more than 100 people die every year in the United
States at pools watched by lifeguards. In San Rafael last year, a 6-year-old
San Francisco girl drowned at a summer camp pool being monitored by two
lifeguards and seven camp counselors.

Michael Oostman, vice president of Ellis & Associates of Houston, confirmed
Thursday his firm was conducting an investigation into the drowning on
behalf of the city.

"This is a very rare accident," he said, adding that there was no estimate
for when the investigation might be completed.

Concord officials also turned to an outside consultant in 1997 in the wake
of a deadly accident at the Waterworld USA water park, owned by Six Flags.

Deven said exact details of how Sarah drowned were still being gathered. But
Gerry Dworkin, a consultant for New Hampshire-based Lifesaving Resources
Inc., said inattention often played a role in these types of drownings.

Most typically, a lifeguard fails to recognize a dangerous situation in the
water or is distracted from monitoring a swimmer in trouble.

"If the person is brought out of the water in cardiac arrest, it tells us
this person's distress went on not for seconds but for minutes," Dworkin
noted.

His company recommends that lifeguards be able to scan whatever stretch of
water they are patrolling in a maximum of 30 seconds. Lifeguards should be
able to assess danger to a swimmer within 10 seconds and get to the victim
within 20 seconds, he said.