Boy, 5, Drowns in Apartment Complex’s Pool

A day after his fifth birthday, a boy drowned in an unsupervised swimming pool at a Lynwood apartment building Sunday evening, apparently while reaching for a toy bobbing on the water, neighbors said Monday.

Carlos Medina was outside playing with his 6-year-old brother and friends about 9 p.m. when he tumbled into the 30-foot-long pool just outside his family’s first-floor apartment, said Adriana Alvarez, a neighbor and friend of Carlos’ family.

Carlos’ mother, Florencia Martinez, said she and the boy’s father left the children playing outside their front door while they made a phone call from a neighbor’s home. She said she did not realize the pool’s iron gates were open.

About 20 minutes later, a neighbor heard children screaming outside and rushed to the pool, Alvarez said. The neighbor dived in and hauled out Carlos’ limp body, she said.

Witnesses and Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies said they did not know how long Carlos had been in the water. Deputies and Lynwood paramedics found the boy in cardiac arrest, Deputy Boris Nikolof said.

Paramedics administered cardiopulmonary resuscitation, but the boy was pronounced dead about 9:45 p.m. at St. Francis Medical Center, Nikolof said.

Martinez recalled her son’s excitement over the last few days in anticipation of the belated birthday party and strawberry cake--his favorite--that his family was planning for next weekend.

“He was so happy,” she said.

Belinda Alfaro, manager of the 14-unit apartment complex in the 3400 block of Alma Avenue, said she left the pool’s gates open for a resident who wanted to go for a swim after the regular closing time of 8 p.m. The pool’s underwater lights do not work, she said.

Alvarez said Carlos was usually terrified of going near the water.

“He was scared to go in the pool,” she said. “His mother and dad always told him not to go in the pool. I don’t know why he went.”