A 6-year-old boy is in the hospital after being found unresponsive at the bottom of a swimming pool at the University of the District of Columbia, according to a campus police report.
UDC police were called to the pool at the E.B. Henderson Sports Complex shortly after 1 p.m. Monday.
D.C. police and D.C. Fire and EMS crews were already providing emergency care when campus officers arrived.
The child was participating in a Nike Soccer Summer Camp, organized by FourSoccer, being held on a field next to the building, police said.
A camp counselor told investigators he went into the water after learning the boy was submerged but was unable to pull him out because he was “too heavy,” according to a police report.
Head coach Benjamin Mortimer, who is also the director for FourSoccer, then jumped into the pool, removed the child and performed CPR until D.C. Fire and EMS personnel took over, the report said.
Emergency crews stabilized the child and took him to Children’s National Hospital at about 1:21 p.m. Mortimer accompanied him in the ambulance.
The report did not provide an update on the boy’s condition, though WTOP has reached out for more information.
A UDC lifeguard manager told police he had left the facility for lunch and returned shortly before the emergency. He said no lifeguard was on duty when the child was found and estimated that roughly 30 children were in the pool at the time.
In a statement, UDC said it was “reviewing the circumstances surrounding the incident. While that review is underway, we cannot comment on personnel matters or discuss the camper’s condition out of respect for the family’s privacy. The pool at UDC’s athletic complex is closed pending completion of the university’s review.”
WTOP reached out to FourSoccer for comment on the incident.
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