New law aims to ban pools at residential day cares after child dies in the Bronx

New law aims to ban pools at residential day cares after child dies in the Bronx

Democratic House Rep. Ritchie Torres has introduced a new bill that aims to ban pools, as well as add doors and window alarms at residential child care facilities.

BRONX - Democratic House Rep. Ritchie Torres has introduced a new bill that aims to ban pools, as well as add doors and window alarms at residential child care facilities. 

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Torres introduced the bill at a press conference on Tuesday. Standing by his side were the parents of the late River Wilson, a one-year-old who died last month at a residential day care in the Bronx. 

Although Torres is introducing the bill on the federal level, he's encouraging lawmakers on the state level to do the same. 

"Drowning is the leading cause of accidental death among toddlers," Rep. Torres said. "At the request of River’s family, I am introducing River’s Law to ensure that what happened to River will never happen again. No parent should ever have to endure such a devastating and preventable loss. River’s death must not be in vain."

CDC data shows that more children ages 1 to 4 die from drowning than any other cause. Plus, drowning is the second leading cause of unintentional injury and death for children aged 5 to 14. Every year in the U.S., there are over 4,000 unintentional drowning deaths, data also shows. 

River Wilson's death

What they're saying:

As of Tuesday, no charges have been filed against the day care owner in Rivers' death. The day care operator told police last month that she was cooking when River drowned. 

Although the lack of adult supervision certainly contributed to River's death, Torres said, inadequate safety inspections had a role as well. 

"They were failed by safety inspectors who were too late and too slow in uncovering the conditions that led to River's death," he said. "And the price paid for the failure of our broken system is the death of a toddler. We have tools at our disposal as civil litigators." 

State records show that inspectors visited the facility in May and found no violations, according to the family attorney, who is looking further into the matter. 

"And then when poor little River drowns, they come and do an investigation and find nine different violations," Attorney James Williams said at the press conference. "Some of them could not have been created between May and now. One of the violations was the proximity of the pool to the building. So that was clearly there in May and was not picked up." 

If the law passes, it would mean that anyone with a swimming pool on their property would be ineligible for a day care license. Failure to install alarms would also be illegal. 

"We're hoping this law will prevent that from happening to any other family," the toddler's aunt, Inemesit O'Boyle, said Tuesday.