A Fall River city health inspector allegedly signed off on the safety of a Fall River pool as a dead woman’s body lay submerged beneath the surface.
Last month, Marie Joseph drowned at Veterans Memorial Swimming Pool. The swimming death made headlines because her body was not discovered for days and all the while, the pool remained open to the public. Her body remained hidden from view partly due to the cloudy conditions of the pool.
Now, The Boston Globe is reporting that two days after Joseph drowned, and as her body remained in the pool, a health inspector visited the pool and issued a permit allowing the pool to remain open. The inspector did note that the pool appeared “cloudy.”
The exact cause of Joseph's death is still unknown. Surveillance cameras caught Joseph going into the pool on a water slide. Her head pops up a couple times before she disappears, reports the Globe. Joseph did not appear to struggle.
But while the cause of Joseph's death is unknown, her death may still have been preventable. That's because Joseph's body essentially disappeared into the pool after submerging only a few feet, reports the Globe. The pool was so cloudy that lifeguards, or anyone else, could not see the body from above.
Officials are saying that the cloudy nature of the pool made it too dangerous to have been open at the time. Had the pool been clearer, a lifeguard could have seen a struggling person beneath the surface of the pool and presumably could have taken steps to save that person's life.
The family of Marie Joseph has still not stated whether it will sue the Fall River pool over Joseph's swimming death. Though it does seem that her death was preventable, had the pool been properly maintained and inspected.
Related Resources:
- Find a Boston Personal Injury Attorney (FindLaw)
- AFSCME Council 93 will back fired Fall River health inspector (The Herald News)
- Swimming Pool Injuries and Accidents (FindLaw)
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