Boy 4, Dies in Accident at Country Club Pool

A 4-year-old boy died Monday, a day after he sank to the bottom of a country club swimming pool near dozens of swimmers and sunbathers in the gated Coto de Caza community of south Orange County.

Alexander Vertun’s death, the sixth community pool drowning in Orange County this year, occurred as critics are questioning a California law that allows both private and public swimming pools to operate without lifeguards.

A manager at the Coto Valley Community Club said about 90 guests were poolside Sunday afternoon when Alexander’s father and 13-year-old brother found him unconscious at the bottom of the pool. No lifeguard was on duty.

Under state law, swimming pool operators do not need to hire lifeguards as long as they post a sign cautioning that there is no lifeguard.

Only pools that charge a gate fee of swimmers are required to hire lifeguards. But country club memberships or homeowners’ association fees do not meet the requirement for mandatory lifeguards. That means that lifeguards are required at only a handful of the estimated 160,000 residential and community pools throughout Orange County.