COSTA MESA : Boy Found in Pool Wasn’t a Swimmer

The father of a 6-year-old boy who was pulled unconscious from a Costa Mesa swimming pool said Monday that he often took his family swimming near their home in Culver City before the near-fatal accident.

But Michael Harris said his youngest son, Adam, knew very little about swimming.

“We used to take the kids to the beach with us, but he didn’t get in the water much,” Harris said outside his son’s hospital room.

Adam remained in critical condition at Childrens Hospital of Orange County, where he was taken after he was found at the bottom of a back-yard swimming pool Sunday.

“Right now the machines are helping him breathe, but he had a stable night,” Harris said. “He is trying to breathe on his own--he’s really trying.” Harris said hospital officials have told the family that if the boy survives the first 24 hours, chances for his recovery are good.

Adam and his older brother had been taken to the Costa Mesa home by their neighbor, Javier Rangel. The home, in the 200 block of Virginia Place, is the residence of Rangel’s nephew Carlos Montes.

The nephew was having a back-yard barbecue while Rangel’s two children and the Harris brothers played peacefully near the edge of the pool. The adults say they do not know what happened to Adam, but witnesses at the scene say the boy could have been underwater for more than three minutes.