One person fired, another resigned, amidst investigation into Warwick drowning
By Bianca Buono
bbuono@abc6.com
@BBuonoABC6
One month after a six-year-old boy drowned at City Park Beach in Warwick, a supervisor has been fired and another resigned.
In a press conference Thursday, the mayor and police chief said several basic procedures were not followed that tragic day at the beach.
The City of Warwick’s investigation into the August 14th drowning death isn’t finished, but the preliminary findings are alarming.
"On Sunday, August 14th, as mandated by the state. City Park Beach should have had three lifeguards on duty. Only two lifeguards were scheduled and were on duty,” said Warwick Mayor Scott Avedisian.
That wasn’t the only problem. Lifeguards weren’t wearing the required clothing so they could be easily identified and one of the two lifeguards wasn’t even certified to be working there.
"The other one had pool certification only,” Avedisian explained.
Stewart’s family anxiously waited outside of Thursday morning’s press conference. Reporters informed them know of the lifeguards broken protocol.
"It’s beyond words. It’s devastating,” said Deirdre Isom, Jamir’s grandma.
Frustrations have mounted within the family as they’ve continued to question the actions first responders took on the beach.
"My grandson is not here anymore because people decided not to do their job,” Isom said.
One supervisor within Warwick’s parks and recreation department has been fired and another has resigned amidst the controversy. The city is refusing to identify them, citing safety concerns.
"There were rumors, some substantiated some not, that lifeguards were in danger,” Avedisian said.
Reporters asked Stewart’s family if they made any threats to lifeguard or city personnel.
"Absolutely not. And if they have we wasn’t there,” they responded.
The mayor says big changes are in the works for the city’s beach safety protocol. They’ll be announced before next year’s beach season.
We did ask Stewart’s family if they plan on pressing charges. They said ‘no comment.’
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