BURKE COUNTY, Ga. (WJBF) – A local family whose son drowned and died at a private swimming lesson last year is using their pain to try and help others, and they’ve got the support of local lawmakers.
It takes around five minutes for someone to die from drowning in a pool. But for the family, that pain remains forever. That’s why the Scott family wants to make sure what happened to their son Izzy doesn’t happen to another family.
“I’m excited, I’m happy about each little, small step that we take towards it. I think– because– as we all say, we don’t want his death to be in vain and we also want to protect other children,” Izzy’s grandmother Naomi Jones said.
Since June of last year, Izzy’s family has been seeking justice. A fight they say has been very tough.
“He was taking swimming lessons at a private pool, with an instructor of 49 years, and it was said in the paperwork that she knew he wasn’t afraid of water and yet she let him stand in chest-high water and he disappeared,” Izzy’s aunt Lydia Glover Fields said.
But a new bill in honor of Izzy could mean fewer children and families would have to deal with a tragic incident like this.
“Because as it sets now, you don’t even have to know how to swim to charge a parent to teach your child to swim,” Glover Fields said.
Izzy’s grandmother has been in contact with Senator Max Burns who is doing what he can to create the proposed bill.
“He’s been contacting me every step of the way and has been very supportive with getting the bill passed,” Jones said.
The family just wants to make sure that private swim lessons get the same requirements as public, but beyond that children remain alive.
“We lost Izzy in a matter of a 1-hour swim class, so if this bill is passed with the loopholes it has right now, before they get it really rectified– who knows who else we could lose in that time frame,” Izzy’s cousin Meggan Fedrick said.
The Scott family hopes this law – if passed – will help ensure the safety of children at private swim lessons.
