Local advocates highlight water safety after pool incidents

PAWTUCKET, R.I. (WLNE) — The Pawtucket Police Department said an unresponsive child was found in a pool on Aug. 7.

Police arrived to Marbury Avenue in Pawtucket for a missing autistic 9-year-old boy and during the search found the boy in a nearby pool on Oak Hill Avenue.

Police said the boy was immediately taken to Hasbro Children’s Hospital.

“The leading cause of accidental death for children ages one-to-four is drowning, but it doesn’t stop,” co-founder of the Jayce the Healer Foundation and North Smithfield resident, Jay Chattelle.

The Chattelle family said that 10 years ago they suffered a tragedy when their 18-month-old fell in a pool and drowned.

“I went outside in the backyard, I didn’t know he let himself out of the house,” Chattelle said. “He climbed the pool fence and jumped into the pool. He wanted to go swimming.”

Since then, the family created a foundation in honor of their son Jayce, called the Jayce the Healer Foundation.

They said their goal is to bring awareness to Rhode Islanders about water and pool safety.

“You need the right top of fencing around the pools, above ground and in-ground pools,” Chattelle said. “All pools in the state of Rhode Island are supposed to have fencing around it. A lot of times it’s not the proper fencing. You might not even have children, it could be your neighbor’s children trying to break in.”

He added that he’s not surprised the autistic 9-year-old found his way to water Wednesday.

“In the process of our advocacy, the first thing you want to do is check every body of water, especially with children with autism,” Chattelle said. “It’s a very scary thing. The kids love the water and they have no understanding of how dangerous it truly is.”