The father of a 5-year-old Bronx boy who drowned in Playland Pool claims the Westchester County-owned facility was understaffed and the lifeguards were ill-equipped to respond to the emergency.
The child was visiting Playland Park with his mother and grandmother on Aug. 1, 2024, when he drowned in the Westchester park’s swimming pool and died days later. Abdulhakim Amer Thabit contends that his son’s tragic death was caused by the “negligence, carelessness and reckless disregard of the public’s safety” by the county and its former park and pool operator, Standard Amusements, according to a recently filed lawsuit.
“The lifeguards’ response to the emergency was not only inexcusably delayed, it was also inept and uncoordinated,” Thabit said in court papers.
Attorneys for the county and Standard argued that Playland’s lifeguards didn’t act improperly and were equipped to handle the crisis situation. County attorneys also said the boy’s family “may have failed” to mitigate, diminish, or reduce the damages alleged in the complaint.
Standard’s defense team attributed the child’s death to his family’s “negligent supervision” in the lawsuit, but attorney Carla Varriale-Barker declined to comment further.
Westchester County and Standard attorneys did not provide the number of lifeguards on duty when the emergency arose.
The pool closed on on Aug. 1, 2024 and remained closed for the rest of the season. The pool reopened on June 27, 2025 the following season.
On the day of the incident, the boy spent more than five minutes under water after struggling to swim, yet lifeguards on duty either “ignored or did not notice” he was submerged in the pool, according to the lawsuit filed in Westchester County Supreme Court.
Court papers said the public pool’s water quality at the time of the incident “hindered the lifeguards’ ability to see beneath the surface,” a claim the county and Standard deny.
A woman in the pool eventually alerted a nearby lifeguard about the boy’s condition, but instead of responding immediately, the litigation claimed the lifeguard asked if “she thought the child was holding his breath.”
The woman allegedly asked the lifeguard to intervene a second time, at which point the lifeguard finally pulled the boy from the pool. By the time they got the child onto the pool deck he was already “completely unresponsive, without pulse or spontaneous breathing,” the lawsuit said.
Lifeguards allegedly “failed” to try to revive him, leaving the good Samaritan, who was not identified in court papers, to administer CPR to the child until EMS arrived.
The child — only identified as A.T. — died four days later, on Aug. 5, 2024, at Greenwich Hospital.
Westchester police initially reported the boy appeared to suffer from a seizure in the pool, which caused his death. However, the Westchester County Medical Examiner’s Office told The Record Wednesday there was no evidence the boy had a seizure, only that he died due to asphyxia secondary to drowning.
The boy’s father is seeking a jury trial and unspecified monetary damages, the lawsuit, filed in September, said.
The historic county-owned amusement park, which is located in Rye, was formerly operated by Standard Amusements LLC, an investment firm that took over management of the park, pool and Tiki Bar restaurant in 2021.
Westchester and Standard parted ways in January 2025, just three years into a 30-year management contract.
This story was updated on Jan. 20 to include information on the pool closure after the incident.
