Police probe relative's supervision after boy drowns

Posted at: 07/23/2012 6:19 PM | Updated at: 07/23/2012 6:25 PM
By: Beth Wurtmann

Tweet

NORTHVILLE - Veronica Macri showed us the floatation devices she brought along for her daughter and a friend at the Northampton Beach Campground Monday, saying the news of a four-year-old drowning was a reminder that lakes can be fun, and potentially dangerous.

"They're fun as long as, there don't have to be a parent with them but an adult. Somebody who can keep an eye because if someone was there they could have pulled him out," Macri said."

State police said the Amsterdam boy drowned not at a beach with lifeguards present, but at an adjacent beach where signs say, "Swim at your own risk."

Investigators said the boy was spending the day with his aunt at the picnic area Sunday. Other children were also in the water, so officials with the New York State police and New York Department of Environmental Conservation want to know whether the aunt was in charge of other children and what she was doing when her nephew went under.

"We'd have to have a lot more information about what the aunt was doing at the critical time when the child was separated from the aunt. They haven't developed that full yet," said Louise Sira, Fulton County District Attorney.

People like Abbie Carey, who works at the Camper's Last Stop store, and saw ambulances rush by with the boy, said that when it comes to water safety, seconds count.

"You turn your head once and something can happen. Someone walks off in the water and jumps in a pool. Anything can happen in a split second," Carey said.

Investigators are interviewing witnesses who were at the beach before the drowning.

Sira said they'll try to determine whether an negligence was involved in the tragedy.