>Monday, August 4, 2008
Last updated: Monday August 4, 2008, EDT 7:14 PMBY EVONNE COUTROSSTAFF WRITERThe family of a teenager who drowned in a Ridgewood pool last month plans to seek $30 million in damages from the village, according to an “intent to sue” notice sent to officials.
The notice of claim for negligence, personal and psychological injury was filed late last week by the attorney for the estate of Soo Hyeon Park, 14, against the village after the July 15 drowning at Graydon Pool.
It names the director of the Department of Parks and Recreation, lifeguards, the lifeguard supervisor, Village Manager James Ten Hoeve, Mayor David Pfund, and the Village Council as employees at fault or who can assist in identifying those at fault for Soo’s drowning in 12-feet of water.
Neil S. Weiner, the attorney for the estate, said the village is at fault.
“As owner and operator of a public swimming facility, the Village of Ridgewood failed to provide Soo Hyeon Park with a safe swimming environment and as a result, he tragically lost his life.”
The notice of claim for damages is a preliminary procedure, said Village Attorney Matthew S. Rogers. A suit can not be filed for six months according to state statute, Rogers said.
“We anticipated it being filed,” Rogers said. “There’s nothing in there that shocks us or in unexpected. It’s a period of time whether they want to file a lawsuit.”
Soo Hyeon Park, his younger sister, and his parents Youn What Jung and Seong Wook Park, had day passes to the pool, the notice says. When Soo began to swim toward a diving platform where his two friends had climbed, he began to struggle and cried out for help. One of the friends tried to swim from the platform in an effort to rescue him, but was unable to, calling out to the teen’s mother at the shallow end of the pool then running over to a lifeguard to say Soo was drowning, the notice says.
“The female lifeguard then sought out guidance from an older, male lifeguard,” who asked the Soo’s friend a series of biographical questions about Soo, the notice says. The boy was telling the lifeguard his friend was drowning, the notice says.
The lifeguard instructed the boy to yell out Soo’s name on a megaphone because he may have since gotten out of the pool and when there was no response to the calls, the lifeguards instructed all swimmers to get out of the pool. It was at the point that the lifeguard entered the pool for the first time, the notice says.
The village was negligent in safeguarding and providing competent lifeguards at the pool and there was a failure to train, supervise, and monitor all lifeguards and follow current policies and procedures at the facility, the notice said. That includes a failure to ensure that all swimmers are aware of the policies and procedures at Graydon that would have warned the teen and his family of the risks at Graydon.
E-mail: coutros@northjersey.com