ORANGE : 1-Year-Old Boy Who Fell Into Pool Dies

A 1-year-old boy who fell into a back-yard swimming pool this week died early Thursday morning after being taken off life-support systems, the the county coroner’s office said.

Trey Pomeroy was pronounced dead at 6:20 a.m. at Children’s Hospital of Orange County where he was taken Monday afternoon after his mother found him floating and unconscious in the pool.

He was the sixth child to drown in a swimming pool in the county in 1993. There have also been 18 near drownings this year, two of which resulted in permanent brain damage.

The boy and his family had just arrived from another state the day the accident occurred and were staying at a house on South Gardner Street, Police Lt. Timm Brownne said.

Brownne said the boy and his 3-year-old brother crawled out of the house through a dog door while their mother and another adult female slept. Browne said the adults were “extremely exhausted” after the long journey from another state.

After his brother fell into the pool, the older child apparently crawled back into the house and woke up his mother, Brownne said.

Pool drownings are the leading cause of accidental death for Orange County children, statistics show. Last year, six children under 4 years of age drowned.