Pools are great for summertime fun, but they can also be deadly. Drowning is the number one cause of accidental death in young children. This story illustrates just how important it is to keep an eye on your young ones.
It doesn’t take long to drown.
All it takes is a couple of gulps of water for a person to drown quietly. At public pools, lifeguards are in place. But at private pools, this responsibility generally falls on parents.
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Albert Passavanti described a very close call.
This Florida dad was hanging out on the pool deck recently when things went sideways. This story has a happy ending, but it isn’t hard to see how things could have gone differently.
His toddler was poolside.
Passavanti’s 18-month-old son Rocco can be seen here in the lower right of the screen. While the pool has a protective fence, it was open on this day — and Rocco got inside of it.
Little Rocco was pursuing an inflatable ball.
Bright, colorful things like beach balls are like catnip for toddlers, and Rocco can be seen on video making a beeline for a ball. But Rocco can’t swim, nor could he grasp the danger of the situation.
The toddler fell in.
About a second after this frame, Rocco fell in. It can’t really be seen on camera because it’s obscured by the fence. Fortunately, Rocco’s dad saw what happened and sprung into action.
Passavanti dove in.
With no hesitation, he bolted from off-camera and vaulted the four-foot fence, diving into the pool headfirst. His quick reaction time probably saved Rocco’s life, as it’s unlikely the toddler would have been able to pull himself to safety.
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Most parents have probably experienced the adrenaline surge that only happens when their child is in danger.
“The second you see it, you get Superman strength and just have to go for it, whatever you got to do,” Passavanti explained .
Rocco and his dad are okay.
Because the toddler was barely in the water for two or three seconds before he was saved, he survived unscathed. Because his dad has such perfect diving form, he also made it out just fine.
It was a close call.
Protective measures like pool fences are great and all, but they’re not foolproof. When they’re used all the time, someone will inevitably forget to close it at some point.
Like Passavanti wrote in his Facebook post about the incident, “Baby gates only work when you close them.”
In the comments, people have been praising this father for his quick thinking in a situation that definitely didn’t leave room for hesitation.
“Wow!” one user wrote. “Way to go, Super Dad!”
Another chimed in by praising Passavanti’s skills and added, “I want you for my dad.”
“Giving Superman a run for his money there, Super Dad,” one person said. “Well done, sir.”
Others placed special interest on the perfect dive the video showcases during Passavanti’s rescue.
“Bro I give that a solid 9.6,” one person wrote. “Form was solid, altitude was surprisingly higher than I ever would have imagined, splash was minimal, toes weren’t quite fully pointed so I had to dock you the .4.”
“Otherwise,” they said, “a podium-worthy effort.”
Of course, there were also critics who had some questions regarding the events leading up to the toddler’s accidental swim.
“Why would you let a baby run around a pool without some kind of a life jacket or something so that if/when he falls into the pool, he would float,” one person wrote, added, “Great dive though. So glad he’s okay.”
Anna Stewart, manager of the Drowning Prevention Coalition of Palm Beach County, praised Passavanti’s response time, though not his means of rescue.
In an interview with WPTV , she advised against jumping into a pool like that.
“You can drown also, but we know parents are going to do what they’re going to do, right? They’re going to go in and save their children.”
Instead, she suggested parents “bring afloation devie with you so that way you don’t go underneath teh water.”
Lesson learned.
We want to know what you think of this story. Have you or your kids ever had a close call associated with swimming? Share your thoughts and your stories in the comments!
