Boy pulled from Meridian pool is in intensive care, police say

A 4-year-old boy is in intensive care at a local hospital Tuesday after he was pulled out of a community pool Monday afternoon, according to Meridian Police Deputy Chief Tracy Basterrechea.

A child noticed that the boy was struggling in the water for several minutes, and she yelled at an adult for help.

Basterrechea said the boy had been playing in the shallow end of the pool but had ended up in a deeper section, where he was unable to touch the bottom. There were a lot of children in the pool at the time.

“They had not been at the pool very long when he went under,” the deputy chief said.

The boy was unresponsive when an adult pulled him out and then started CPR. A Meridian code enforcement officer took over doing CPR on the child until paramedics arrived.

“We don’t know if he regained consciousness,” Basterrechea said.

Paramedics were called to the possible drowning at 3:10 p.m. in the 3800 block of Woodville Drive, an emergency dispatcher told the Statesman on Monday.

The boy was swimming in a community pool, possibly owned by the homeowners association, Basterrechea said. The boy and his family were visiting from Oregon, and he was with family at the pool when the incident occurred.

This story was originally published June 24, 2019 at 6:05 PM.