A Georgia swim instructor is facing criminal charges several months after 4-year-old Israel "Izzy" Scott drowned during swim lessons in June 2022. Augusta Judicial Circuit District Attorney Jared Williams reportedly instructed the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to issue an arrest warrant for Lexie Tenhuisen on a misdemeanor charge of involuntary manslaughter.
"Izzy Scott is not a case. He is not a file on a desk, nor an article in the news. He is a child whose loss has broken the heart of our community. He is a symbol of how we should cherish our little ones and hold them tight," Williams said in a news release.
The Burke County Sheriff's Office initially didn't charge Tenhuisen due to a 'lack of evidence' in the case.
After weeks of investigation, Burkey County Sheriff Alfonzo Williams announced there was insufficient evidence to charge Tenhuisen with criminal negligence. "We have exhaustively researched data on child drownings, student-teacher ratios during swim instruction, safety protocols and general information germane to the case," a July 6, 2022 news release from the sheriff's office stated.
After "months of dedicated inquiry, investigation, and legal analysis," however, Williams determined a criminal offense occurred in the June 14, 2022, death of the 4-year-old, People reported.
According to the sheriff's office, the 4-year-old was one of 10 children who attended the swimming lessons provided by Tenhuisen at her home in Hephzibah, Georgia.
The young boy's parents, Dori and Walt Scott, revealed details about their son's swim lessons.
Dori Scott enrolled her son in a week's worth of supervised swim lessons with Tenhuisen. Additionally, Israel had only completed two sessions at the time of the drowning. His mother waited inside her car during those lessons because parents were not permitted to sit in during the instruction.
On the morning of June 14, she received the heartbreaking news about her son.
"A lady comes, and she knocks on my window. I'm sitting in the car, and she's like, 'Come get your baby,' and when she said that, she said it kind of rude-like," Dori Scott explained to The Shade Room Investigates' Justin Carter. "Then I looked at her face, and I just saw like tears in her eyes, so initially I knew something was wrong, and I just started screaming."
Shortly after the lesson, Izzy's body was found underwater in the deep end of the pool. Tenhuisen's granddaughter made the heartbreaking discovery as she was preparing to use the pool vacuum to clean the pool, according to a police report obtained by People.
Tenhuisen and the other children had already stepped out of the pool after the lesson had ended.
After learning what had happened, Tenhuisen quickly jumped into the pool to rescue the boy. She and another parent, who is a registered nurse, performed CPR on Izzy after he was found unconscious.
Later, authorities and EMS workers arrived and attempted lifesaving measures as well, WFXG reported.
Police said the 4-year-old had a pulse but wasn't breathing on his own. Moments later, paramedics rushed him to Augusta University Childrenās Hospital of Georgia, where he was pronounced dead on June 15.
Tenhuisen told police she didn't realize the young boy was missing until her granddaughter told her what happened, according to People. During questioning, she also told police she allowed the children to take laps across the shallow end of the pool and encouraged them to put their heads underwater, per the police report.
During the investigation, Tenhuisen said she didn't know how the child had drowned.
"Tenhuisen claimed that the only thing that she can think of in her mind is that while the kids were swimming, he got a little too close to the drop off, but she doesn't remember that because there was just splashing, and she was watching them swim across," the document noted.
According to WRDW, an autopsy report ruled Izzy's death as accidental. At the time, the Burke County Sheriff's Office investigated the incident and determined no foul play had occurred.
Williams said accountability in Izzy's death was the primary goal after discussing the case with his family and the Solicitor Generalās Office for Burke County.
"Why should a child so innocent, so precious, leave us so young? How could the law be so insufficient, placing no safeguards over the very people who are entrusted as lifeguards over our children?" Williams questioned in the press release via People.
The boy's parents are relieved after learning the swim instructor has been charged in their son's death.
"Any time you leave a child under the care of someone else and you don't get that child back the same way that you sent them off, then that person ultimately is responsible, to whatever extent it may be," Walter Scott told WFXG.
The Scott family has created a foundation dedicated to Izzy to keep their son's memory alive.
"Our goal is to help raise awareness and change laws that will protect children against instructor led drownings and more," according to a GoFundMe page launched by Naomi Jones. "We are determined that our sweet Izzy's death will not be in vain."
