Pinellas toddler drowns in pool

The mother discovers the child in the water and shouts to a neighbor, "Joe, call 911 for me!''

By ROBERT FARLEY

© St. Petersburg Times, published May 11, 2001

PALM HARBOR -- A 2-year-old Palm Harbor boy who slipped out of sight Thursday afternoon drowned in his family's backyard pool.

The toddler's mother, 39-year-old Melanie Dinicola, told deputies she lost track of her son Jacob about 4 p.m. and discovered him face-up in the pool about 40 minutes later, said Pinellas County sheriff's spokesman Greg Tita.

Their 9-year-old son was at home, Tita said, and Mrs. Dinicola said it is not unusual for the two boys to play together outside.

Next-door neighbor Joe Boyd said he had walked out to his car for a moment when Mrs. Dinicola came outside and asked if he had seen Jacob.

"I knew something was wrong," Boyd said. "Then she went around the house to the back yard and looked in their above-ground pool."

"Joe, call 911 for me!" she screamed.

Tita said Mrs. Dinicola pulled Jacob from the pool and attempted CPR. Moments later, the boy's father, Dominic, 42, arrived home from work. He owns his own construction company. He, too, tried CPR, Tita said.

Boyd said he stayed on the phone with a 911 paramedic and relayed instructions to Dominic Dinicola.

When firefighters arrived at the Dinicola home at 1691 E Grovehill Road, the child was in the kitchen, said Palm Harbor Fire and Rescue District Chief Ron Gray. The boy had no pulse and was not breathing, Gray said.

The child, just three months shy of his third birthday, was driven by Sunstar Ambulance to Mease Countryside Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, Tita said.

The arrival of warm weather always brings new pool tragedies, firefighters warn.

Since January, eight children younger than 6 in Pinellas County have needed emergency help after falling into a backyard pool. Already this year, four children have died in backyard swimming pools in Hillsborough County. In 2000, five children younger than 6 died from drowning in Pinellas County.

"It is tragic," Gray said. "We hope that people not just be upset but learn something from this. All tragedies like this are preventable."

Gray said there are a number of precautions parents can take and resources available to help them.

In Palm Harbor, for example, the Fire Department Web site, http://www.palmharborfd.com, contains swimming pool safety tips. In addition, Palm Harbor firefighters will perform a free house survey of the pool area.

Barriers and floating alarms that warn when someone goes in the pool can help, Gray said, but most important is "supervise, supervise, supervise."

Neighbors have set up an account to assist the family: the Jacob Dinicola Memorial Fund, First Union National Bank, 35320 U.S. Highway 19 N, Palm Harbor, 34683.

- Robert Farley can be reached at (727) 445-4185.

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