Toddler Drowns in Backyard Pool

A two-year-old Sacramento boy drowned Sunday in a backyard swimming pool while visiting relatives in Elk Grove.

"The adults lost sight of the child for approximately five minutes and discovered him floating in the pool face down," said Officer Chris Trim, a spokesperson for the Elk Grove Police Department, which responded to the early evening emergency in the 9100 block of Sage Glen Way.

Paramedics transported the boy, identified by the Sacramento County Coroner's Office as Christopher Ramirez, to a local hospital but he could not be revived.

Basic safety measures like installing a fence around a swimming pool and alarms on doors leading to the pool area can help prevent similar accidents, said Cosumnes Fire Deputy Chief John Michelini. Both precautions are required by building codes, but the rules only apply to new pools and Michelini said homeowners sometimes disable the alarms after they are installed.

Trim said the pool in Sunday's drowning was surrounded by a makeshift fence about one or two feet high.

"It wouldn't have caused a major obstacle for a mobile kid to get through," Trim said.

He added that the boy did not live at the home and it was unclear whether there were other small children regularly living there.