When you consider what’s at stake, you can immediately see that very important child safety swimming standards and advisories are in place for good reason. When it comes to taking your children for some recreation time in a pool, safety should always come first. Unfortunately, not every parent or guardian keeps that in mind, which can result in very dangerous consequences. Two women could face charges after they left six children younger than 13 in a club pool in Michigan unsupervised while the pair visited the club’s restaurant and one of those children drowned.
On January 30, 2026, two parents from the Sterling Heights area in southeast Michigan brought six kids to Deer Lake Athletic Club in Independence Township and left them unattended in the pool while they visited the club’s restaurant, per Fox 2. Charges could be filed against the two women as the kids’ visit to the pool took a devastating turn when a 4-year-old from that group drowned, per the news outlet.
The two parents left six children between the ages of 4 and 12 years old in the pool area while they left to go order some food and drinks at the club’s bar area, Fox 2 reported. They left the kids unattended in the water with a few flotation devices and were gone for roughly 35 minutes when the drowning happened.
The pool was between 3 and 5 feet deep with no adult supervision during the time the drowning occurred, CBS Detroit reported. It was the 4-year-old’s older sister who got the child out of the water. Authorities were called to the facility about 7:30 that evening and found the child “on the pool [deck] where two men and a woman were doing CPR on the child.”
Oakland County sheriff’s deputies who arrived at the club took over lifesaving efforts, but the 4-year-old was later declared dead at the hospital, per WOOD.
Investigators noted pool noodles and toys were in the area, but the children were not given life preservers, WOOD reported. There was also signage posted in the pool area that there was no lifeguard on duty and that children younger than 16 are not permitted in the pool without adult supervision.
“This is a horrific and tragic death that easily could have been avoided,” Sheriff Michael Bouchard said in a news release per the Detroit Free Press. “We always encourage that not only is there an adult present for any children swimming activity, but one adult is specifically tasked with watching and not just in the area.”
This is an ongoing investigation in Oakland County. Our thoughts are with the child’s family and loved ones.
