District Liable in Drowning

The Los Angeles Unified School District has been hit with a $4.25-million jury verdict in connection with the drowning of a learning-disabled teenager in a murky Hollywood High School swimming pool.

In July 1999, Dante Arce, a 15-year-old sophomore, was among 70 students in a mandatory introductory swimming class when a custodian found his body at the bottom of the pool, said attorney Philip Michels, who is representing Arce’s family.

After six days in a coma, Arce was declared brain-dead, and his organs were donated for transplant by his parents, Michels said.

In the Los Angeles Superior Court trial that ended Monday, the school district admitted liability for failing to provide adequate supervision and safety precautions at the facility, district officials said.

Exacerbating problems were dim lighting, a sharp descent from the shallow to deep areas, and water so murky that the Department of Health eventually closed the pool, Michels said.

“The real problem was lack of adequate supervision for that number of kids in the pool,” Michels said. “Dante drowned and no one noticed it. And when they did find him, they didn’t respond as quickly as they should have.”

Spokesman Shel Erlich said the district plans to appeal the amount of the verdict and request a new trial on the damages.