Pool Arrest Highlights Drain Danger
A Dangerous Suction Effect Can Be Caused by Unsafe Pool Drain Covers

By KYLE GASSIOTT and ASA ESLOCKER
July 22, 2008

Safety experts say yesterday's arrest of a pool contractor in Connecticut could pressure many pool owners and operators to make their pools safer. Of particular concern are dangerous pool drain covers which can cause a powerful suction effect and have caused hundreds of injuries and over 30 drownings of children since the 1980s. Dangerous pool drains are the subject of an ongoing ABC News investigation which will air Wednesday on "Good Morning America."

"This is the first time a swimming pool contractor has been arrested in the United States for violating the building and safety codes concerning swimming pools. As a result of this arrest we are anticipating that many pools will now be made safe and compliant," Paul Pennington, spokesman for the Pool Safety Consortium, told ABC News.

David Lionetti was arrested yesterday on a manslaughter charge in the death of Zachary Cohn. Six-year-old Cohn drowned last summer after becoming trapped by the suction of a drain in his family's pool in Greenwich, Conn. The pool had been installed by Lionetti's company Shoreline
Pools.

Parents Brian and Karen Cohn filed a civil suit against Lionetti in January claiming Shoreline Pools should have known of the dangers of a potentially fatal entrapment from an uncovered suction drain."Nothing will bring our son back, but we hope this prosecution will help prevent another horrific incident like this from happening to someone else," said a statement by the Cohns released by their attorney. "Those who knowingly violate pool safety codes designed to protect children should be held accountable for their actions."

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