Dangerous Waters?

As 3-year-old Naseir Ponders recuperates at home after nearly drowning a week ago, the family responsible for saving him battles with lingering questions about how the incident happened in the first place. 

"It's kept me up at night," said Greer resident Sarah Beaver, who witnessed the event. 

It was her husband, Russell, who first discovered the child floating face down in the pool area of Otter Creek Water Park on West Darby Road just outside of Taylors earlier this week. 

Russell had played with Ponders earlier in the day. 

"At the beginning of the day, we saw him - he was jumping on my back and playing around at the real shallow end of the pool," Russell said. 

Ponders was on a field trip at the time, under the care of the YMCA's Judson Community Center. When asked for comment, the YMCA released a statement confirming he had been in their care, and that the organization was praying for his recovery. 

At 3:45 p.m. Monday, Russell and Sarah, who was with another child care facility group composed of children at least 5 years old and older, had made their way to the deeper end of the pool. 

"I was about to get out, but something just told me to look behind me. So I turned around. That's when I saw him," Russell said. "I thought he might have just been a kid playing at first, so I looked away for a second. But I turned right back around and looked again and recognized him."

Frantic, the Beavers screamed for help as Russell carried the child's limp body out of the pool. 

"He was dead," Russell said he recalls thinking. 

"He was just a sack of potatoes," Sarah said. "I couldn't feel a pulse. He wasn't breathing at all." 

Russell said Ponders was only 20 feet away from the nearest lifeguard, who had not seen him. Even more disconcerting to him, was that the child was found in the deep end of the pool on the opposite side of the complex where his adult caregivers with the YMCA had been.

After initially getting Ponders out of the water, the Beavers argue that procedure took precedence over the child's well-being. The nearest lifeguard fumbled around with equipment and "just looked at him" as he laid on the ground for at least two minutes, according to Russell. Meanwhile, a licensed EMT and Sarah herself - a CPR-certified assistant daycare director - were implored not to help as precious seconds ticked away, according to the Beavers. 

"It seemed like 10 minutes before another lifeguard started CPR on him," Russell said. "But it was probably was two to three."

The Beavers relayed that an emergency physician at Greenville Memorial Hospital said Ponders was likely without oxygen for eight to 10 minutes. 

"I understand the liability and all that," Russell said. "But first, you save the child's life." 

It's an unfair criticism in the eyes of Mike Teachey, community relations director for the Greenville County Recreation District. 

"There were allegedly doctors or medically trained people there. Are we going to allow someone standing there in a bathing suit who may or may not really be a doctor treat this child, when we have trained staff who we know can do the job?" Teachey said. 

Teachey also defended the time it took to begin treatment of the boy, saying it was all a matter of procedure. 

"The child was found. You've got to check vitals, because you don't want to do CPR on someone who has a pulse. I was there with the EMT's were there, and they were praising the job our lifeguards did," Teachey said. "He would not be here had the lifeguards not done their jobs. Nothing was said about taking too much time. They said 'you guys saved this little boy's life.'" 

Teachey added that it would have been appropriate for a bystander to conduct CPR or medical aid had their been no trained personnel around, but that simply was not the case. 

"Can you imagine the story had we let a person work on this child and we didn't do our jobs?" Teachey asked. 

To top off the Beavers' frustrations, Ponder - a 3-year-old child who could not swim - was not wearing a flotation device of any kind. It's not surprising to Russell, who said his experience with the park has shown park supervisors generally haven't enforced such safety requirements. 

"I've been to that water park three or four times. The first time I went, they made my youngest one wear a life vest. Every other time after that, they didn't say a thing about it," he said. 

Otter Creek Water Park does have a large container of personal flotation devices to offer those want one. 

"We make sure parents and guardians know they have to supervise their kids. At Otter Creek, we don't have a swim test for children who go there because the pool part of it has zero depth optional," Teachey said. "It's really up to the person in charge of supervising them. 

"The reality is, at any of these facilities, we have staff there to look over the whole crowd. It's really the responsibility of the patron, guardian or the parent to watch the children in their care. If they have kids who can't swim, we make life jackets available, but it's up to them whether they do that or not."

The South Carolina Department of Social Services and the Greenville County Sheriff's Office are still investigating the incident. Russell Beaver has provided statements to both agencies. 

"Only Otter Creek hasn't contacted him to ask what happened," Sarah said. 

DSS had not returned calls made as of the time of this article's publication. 

"We've had multiple eyewitness accounts," Teachey said. "None of them say the same thing."

Meanwhile, the Beavers say they question both the procedural aspect of what happened Monday afternoon, as well as the expectations placed on young lifeguards who staff the facilities. Russell said the lifeguards, though they ultimately acted, wasted vital minutes before acting. 

"We're not saying they're awful people," Sarah said. 

"But no matter how much training they've had, if you put a kid, a teenager, in a situation like that, he's going to freeze up," Russell said. 

"It (the criticism of the lifeguards) strikes me as odd," Teachey said. "He wouldn't be here had the lifeguards not done their jobs." 

Ponders has now been discharged from the hospital. 

Robert Seigler, medical director of GHS Children's Hospital pediatric intensive care unit, said Naseir's prognosis is excellent. He attributed this to his receiving immediate and effective CPR at the scene, being rapidly transported to the hospital and having pediatric intensive care readily available.

Teachey confirmed there were between 200 and 300 children at the facility the day Ponders nearly drowned, and it was staffed by 13 lifeguards - one more than they actually needed. 

Drowning is the second leading cause of injury-related deaths in children. Approximately 1,100 children under 20 years of age die in the U.S. annually from drowning, with the peak ages being toddlers and teenagers, according to Sandy Dees, spokesperson for the Greenville Hospital System. 

 The child's family is expected to address the media at 10 a.m. Tuesday at their Judson community home.