Fairfax Injury Lawyer Brien Roche Addresses Swimming Injuries
Brien Roche

On June 25, 2020 a 17 year-old from Silver Spring drowned in Lake Audubon in Reston, VA.  The lake is in the 2000 block of Beacon Heights Drive.

The police had received a call th

at the swimmer had gone underwater and didn’t resurface.  The police conducted a search of the area and about an hour later the teenager was found unresponsive in the water.  He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Drowning is a fact that owners and those who manage swimming areas must be fully aware of. Those who own and manage pools, to the extent that they have safety personnel on site, need to be fully prepared. Being prepared includes being informed of what is sometimes called the Instinctive Drowning Response. Many people wrongly believe that a drowning swimmer will be thrashing in the water. People see this as an attempt to stay afloat. However that is not always the case.

Typical Behavior for Swimming Injuries

  • Drowning people are not able to call out for help. Their respiratory system is too busy trying to ingest air.
  • To the extent that the drowning person’s mouth is above the surface of the water, they are exhaling and inhaling. However they are doing this as quickly as possible before their mouth sinks below the surface of the water.
  • A drowning person instinctively extends the arms to the side. The intent is to press down on the water’s surface in order to try to stay afloat.  That would prevent someone from waving for aid.
  • Most drowning people remain upright in the water and are unable to kick.

These are very subtle signs of drowning. However they are things that lifeguards and other attendants need to be aware of in order to best serve patrons.

Factors To Consider In Swimming Injuries

In analyzing swimming injuries there are a number of factors to consider. Also state and local codes must be analyzed carefully to determine any and all requirements that may exist as far as:

  1. Fencing.
  2. The nature and characteristics of any gates.
  3. Any required life saving devices.
  4. The need for and qualifications of lifeguards.
  5. Pool maintenance standards as far as water level, water clarity, condition of deck, etc.
  6. Design requirements for the pool such as depth markers, presence of protruding objects, use and location of diving boards or slides.

To the extent that either state or local codes do not cover these issues then there may be a need for expert testimony to establish the standard of care. Call, or contact us for a free consult.

Swimming Deaths From Rip Tides

Drowning from rip tides is a huge problem in many beaches across the U.S.  The rip tide effect is caused by a break in sandbars that are offshore. The break allows water that is washed on the shore side of the sandbar to funnel through that break. The break between two adjacent sandbars creates a suction effect drawing the swimmer out away from the shore.

Some signs of rip tides are an area of water in the surf that has a different color from the surrounding water. Also be on the lookout for irregularity in the incoming pattern of waves. In addition the movement of seaweed or debris that is moving out through the surf may suggest a rip tide.

If caught in a rip tide, which is different from an undertow, the best defense is to swim slowly parallel to the shore. In addition you can allow the rip tide to carry you out until it loses its momentum.  It will lose its momentum. Once it does you can swim back to the shore away from the rip tide area.

An undertow is generated by a drop off in depth of the water. This causes receding waves to fall into the deeper area created by the changing depth. This results in the swimmer being pulled under.

See also the pages within this site dealing with premises liability.
Also for more information on drowning see the pages on Wikipedia. Also call, or contact us for a free consult.

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Brien Roche

Brien A. Roche has been an attorney since 1976. Mr. Roche is admitted to practice in Virginia, the District of Columbia, and Maryland. In addition to his busy law practice, Mr. Roche is also a published author of several books & articles relating to the practice of law.

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