WINFIELD – A Putnam County widow claims improper lifeguard staffing, equipment and training at the Tri-County YMCA is the reason her husband died.
Judith “Judy” O’Dell, as executrix of the estate of William “Bill” O’Dell, filed her complaint against Tri-County YMCA in Putnam Circuit Court.
According to the complaint, Bill O’Dell was using the YMCA pool to swim laps on the morning of May 6, 2019, when his body became submerged. She says only two lifeguards were present at the time and that the number of lifeguards “on duty” did not meet regulatory and other legal requirements.
She also says the two lifeguards were not adequately or attentively watching the pool.
“The lifeguards were not properly positioned to observe individuals in the swimming pool – and they certainly did not see Bill drowning until it was too late,” the complaint states. “Bill exhibited apparent signs of distress and the need for immediate assistance, such as struggling or a sudden slipping beneath the surface of the water.
“Bill exhibited other, more dire signs of distress and the need for immediate assistance, such as motionlessness, prolonged submergence and the fact that he was not actively swimming laps through he was in a lane of a dedicated lap pool.”
Judy O’Dell says if any lifeguard had noticed such signs before it was too late, “Bill O’Dell would be alive today.”
At 11:10 a.m., water aerobics instructor Liz Pitt saw O’Dell’s body lying face down on the bottom of the pool, according to the complaint. She yelled for the lifeguards to blow the whistle and assist. She jumped into the pool and, with the help of one of the lifeguards, lifted O’Dell’s body out of the pool.
Pitt began chest compressions, according to the complaint, and the lifeguard grabbed a resuscitation mask. But the mask didn’t work, Judy O’Dell claims, because it wasn’t in proper working order or was being used by insufficiently trained personnel. The lifeguard switched to mouth-to-mouth breaths as Pitt continued chest compressions.
Pitt told the other lifeguard to press a call button to initiate an emergency alarm system. But the call button also was in disrepair, and the alarm system didn’t go off.
Judy O’Dell says these failures contributed to her husband’s death.
After another YMCA employee arrives, the staff began to use an automated external defibrillator on O’Dell, but it didn’t help. The other employee began giving chest compressions while Pitt and the first lifeguard provided mouth-to-mouth.
An employee called 911, and the EMS crew saw no cardiac activity, no cardiac output and no blood flow, indicating O’Dell had been submerged and without oxygen for a prolonged amount of time. EMS tried resuscitation efforts, but O’Dell didn’t respond. He was taken to Charleston Area Medical Center’s Teays Valley Hospital where he was pronounced dead at 12:02 p.m.
The complaint accuses the YMCA of negligence as well as negligent hiring, training, supervision and/or retention.
Judy O’Dell says she and other beneficiaries have suffered sorrow, mental anguish as well as loss of solace, society, companionship, comfort, guidance, kindly offices and advice.
She seeks compensatory damages for those as well as for funeral expenses, medical expenses, lost income, loss of household and other services, care, assistance and other economic damages. She also seeks punitive damages as well as pre- and post-judgment interest, attorney fees and court costs.
O’Dell is being represented by Lucas R. White, Booth Goodwin, Benjamin Ware and Shanna Brown of Goodwin & Goodwin in Charleston as well as by Debra Price and Lisa Moye of The Moye Law Firm in Cross Lanes.
The Tri-County YMCA was the scene of another drowning death earlier this week. Martin Payne, 38, was doing somersaults in the pool when he apparently had a medical issue. Putnam County Sheriff Bobby Eggleton said Payne, who was special needs, was underwater only 26 seconds before he was pulled out by staff members.
Putnam Circuit Court case number 21-C-55
