The family of a young boy who drowned last summer at a Dayton city pool said they do not think the city has taken any action to prevent another death like their son’s.
Niguel Hamilton, 6, was at the Lohrey Recreation Center for a swimming lesson July 12, 2018, when he was found at the bottom of the indoor pool. He died a few days later when he was pulled from life support at Dayton Children’s Hospital.
The family told News Center 7's Sean Cudahy they are speaking out because they think other children are in danger, that the city has not made any changes to procedures or conditions at the rec center, 2366 Glenarm Ave.
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City officials have not answered whether any improvements were made in the last year. Toni Bankston, the city’s communications director, said Tuesday evening the city will not answer any questions about the drowning case or the facility.
“He was funny. He was smart. Everybody loved him,” Maja Hamilton said of her son, Niguel, who was about to start the first grade.
The last year without him has not been easy. “It’s been hell; it’s been hell.”
Making it worse for her and her husband, she said, is that she does not believe anything has been done to prevent another drowning.
“No changes have been made to the pool, to their protocol,” Mark Brown, Niguel’s father, said.
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“They didn’t do their job. They lost my son. He was under water for 15 minutes. And these people are still working. They are still doing their jobs,” Hamilton said.
The family received a $1.5 million settlement from the city earlier this year. But Niguel’s parents said it was only in recent weeks they learned no one will face criminal charges in connection with their son’s drowning death, which in November had been ruled accidental by the Montgomery County Coroner’s Office
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“I think they try to cover things up with money and think families are supposed to be OK,” Brown said.
“They take responsibility for the negligence that was involved with our son, but on a criminal side they don’t want to hold anybody accountable. I just want them to tell me how does that work,” he said.
With the city refusing to say whether it made any changes at the Lohrey Recreation Center, despite red flags raised about the facility in Dayton Police Department reports, the family said other parents should think twice before sending their children there.
“We just don’t want this to happen to someone else’s child,” Hamilton said.
“And you have all these other kids that are coming here. And parents, I don’t think they understand that they’re putting their kids in jeopardy,” Brown said.
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