Waterbury

10-Year-Old Drowns During Birthday Celebration in Waterbury: Police

Police are investigating an accidental drowning in Waterbury after a child was found at the bottom of a pool on Saturday night.

Officers said they were called to a home on Pierpont Road around 7:30 p.m. when the 10-year-old girl was found at the bottom of the pool. The child was officially pronounced dead at St. Mary's Hospital after 10 p.m.

The girl was at a church picnic and birthday celebration with about 30 other people when a relative noticed she was missing. The owner of the home the party was at, Melville Campbell, told NBC Connecticut that the girl's family member was looking for her and couldn't find her. 

"We just kept looking all over the place and in the community and in the house," Campbell said.

Shortly after, Campbell found the girl at the bottom of the pool. Campbell tells NBC Connecticut that section of the pool is four feet deep. He said there were a handful of others in the pool when she was found.

"I find it to be quite startling that a lot of people was around the pool, eating and celebrating and nobody saw when she descended into the pool, so I mean like I said, it's quite mentally devastating to us right now," Campbell said.

It is unclear how long she had been there.

"During our time of searching, I'm saying it could have been 20 to 25 minutes during that search. Prior to all of that, i'm not sure of how long," Campbell said.

Campbell said he was told the girl did not know how to swim. 

"I was told she doesn't know how to swim. I personally walked around to check a lot of the kids to see if they have their swimming guards on and family members with them, and it so happened I find that to be in place. This one person, I don't remember really seeing her," he said. 

According to Campbell, his sister-in-law invited the girl and her relative over, but he didn't personally know them. 

"Being a kind-hearted person, [I] invited them over, but I didn't know them," he said.

Police have not released the name of the girl.

Contact Us