Health department to inspect pool at east Charlotte apartments after teen drowns

CHARLOTTE — An inspector from the Mecklenburg County Health Department will inspect the pool at an east Charlotte apartment complex, where a 13-year-old girl drowned last week.

Paramedics received a call about a possible drowning around 3:40 p.m. last Wednesday at the Villa Vista Apartments on Montego Drive, near The Plaza and Barrington Drive in east Charlotte.

MEDIC rushed the girl to the hospital but her family told Channel 9 on Friday that she did not survive.

The family of Tiffany Alegria said the teenager didn’t know how to swim but ended up in the apartment complex’s pool. The girl’s grandmother was taking care of her but she also does not know how to swim, according to relatives.

A Gofundme page has been created to help the family, which is from El Salvador, pay for the funeral.

Channel 9 has covered two other drownings at the Villa Vista Apartments -- an 8-year-old girl in 2017 and a 4-year-old in 2015.

Officials said there are no state requirements for lifeguards to be on-duty at a public pool as long as there are signs posted, which the pool at the apartment complex have.

In addition, the health department confirmed to Eyewitness News anchor Genevieve Curtis the complex’s pool passed its inspection before open this summer.

Juan Jose lives at the apartment complex and was at the pool that day with his children.

He said that the rope that divides the deep end from the shallow end of the pool wasn’t there at the time of the drowning. He thinks that’s something they have to fix.

Another resident believes the apartment should close the pool for good.

(WATCH BELOW: Dry drowning vs secondary drowning: what’s the difference?)

Dry drowning vs secondary drowning: what's the difference? (NCD)

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