Pool Company President Charged in Boy's Drowning
Conn. pool company president was charged with manslaughter after boy drowned.
July 21, 2008— -- A swimming pool company president was charged Monday with second-degree manslaughter in connection with an incident last year in which a 6-year-old boy drowned in Greenwich after his arm was trapped in a powerful suction drain.
Greenwich Police said Shoreline Pools President David Lionetti "recklessly caused the death" of Zachary Cohn by failing to have his company install mandated safety devices in the pool the company built for the boy's family. Police alleged the safety devices would have prevented the boy's death.
Lionetti, 53, of Stamford, was released after posting $25,000 bond. If convicted of the felony, he faces a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.
"To my knowledge this is the first time an executive from a pool company has been prosecuted for homicide for claimed code violations in the installation of a pool," said Richard Meehan Jr., Lionetti's attorney. "He intends to plead not guilty and we look forward to aggressively defending the case."
Meehan declined to comment on the issue of safety devices, saying he had not seen the arrest affidavit yet.
The arrest comes three days after a fire destroyed the company's Stamford warehouse, causing 13 police officers to be treated for chemical exposure. The cause of the fire was unknown Monday.
Police say 6-year-old Zachary Cohn drowned after his arm became stuck in an intake valve in the deep end of an in-ground pool on July 26, 2007. Water entering an intake valve is pumped through the filtering system under suction before being pumped back into the pool.
The boy's parents filed a lawsuit in January alleging the pool violated safety code requirements designed in response to a rash of similar tragedies around the country.
The lawsuit was filed in Stamford Superior Court by Brian Cohn, former president of one of the world's largest hedge funds, SAC Capital Advisors, and his wife, Karen, against the town of Greenwich, Shoreline Pools and others.
The boy's father and another adult jumped into the pool to try to free him but the pool's suction was too powerful, according to the lawsuit.
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