11-year-old boy drowns at a family recreation center pool in Detroit

DETROIT, Mich. (WXYZ) - An 11-year-old drowned in a closed pool in Detroit this afternoon at a family recreation center.

The father identified the boy as 11-year-old David Fyfe.  Police said the boy and his 8-year-old brother had been able to sneak into a closed pool area of the Considine Little Rock Family Center.  The facility is off Woodward Avenue and Holbrook in Detroit.

 “Some way or another they were unsupervised and got into a place in this building where they weren’t supposed to be the swimming pool,” said Dennis Fyfe.  It happened around 2:30 pm.

Fyfe said he thought his two sons went up to the recreation center this morning to swim.  He did not know there was no open swim on Saturdays and it was closed.

“If there was security by the pool, then he should be coming right out of there right now walking down these steps,” said Fyfe.  His family struggled to get answers about his son’s death and how the boy managed to get into the pool. 

“He’s 11-years-old and if he can get through some doors in here that I can’t get in and I’m 53, something is wrong,” said Fyfe.

The boy’s 8-year-old brother Davon had been with him and had to run almost a mile back home to find help.

“My 8-year-old had to go all the way to his house and come back before he could get any help,” said Fyfe.  When we asked him why that was, he said, “I don’t know.”

The recreation center temporarily closed the facility and would not come outside to answer any questions Saturday.

“If we’re going to have a place for people to have recreation, let’s let them have recreation and not lose their life,” said Fyfe.

7 Action News tried several times to get someone from the recreation center to come out and talk with us about what happened but they refused to come outside.