In the early hours of last Sunday, MCHD, Conroe Police, Conroe Fire, North Montgomery Fire and the Montgomery County Precinct 1 Lake Patrol responded to repors of a drowning at Piney Shores Resort.
According to Lake Patrol Lt. Tim Cade, an 8-year-old boy was playing on the shoreline with his younger brother and some friends under the supervision of his father. The boy had left the shoreline and was dangling his feet off the edge of the dock when his father, from about 50 feet away, observed his young son fall into the water feet first. He immediately ran to his son and pulled him out; although initially conscious, the boy soon became unresponsive. After contacting emergency services, dispatchers instructed the father on giving CPR until MCHD arrived. Medics attempted to resuscitate the victim, and eventually the boy was lifted away via Life Flight, where responders continued their attempts.
The investigation has continued and at the request of Montgomery County Precinct 1 Constables Office and Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office Major Crimes Unit, the City of Conroe Inspection Department was notified. Piney Shores Marina is within the city limits of Conroe.
Electrical inspectors later found the conduit attached to the dock broken in places, with bare, electrified wires. It is possible this was the source of the child’s condition.
An autopsy was done by the Harris County Medical Examiners Office, however due to their backlog of cases it could be up to nine months before a determination into the actual cause of death is actually known.
Mike Holt, owner of Electrical News Source wrote in a recent article:
During the eight years that I’ve been writing the Beyond the Basics column for Fluke News Plus, I’ve discussed wiring and grounding problems in industrial plants, homes, and dairy farms. This one adds grounding issues at boat docks.
Consider what can happen when an unsuspecting swimmer comes near a boat with stray ac leakage current flowing between the boat hull and grounded dock components or the bottom of a lake.
The grim reality is that ac leakage current, often less than 100 milliamps, may be flowing undetected in the water. That’s far from the amount required to trip a 20 amp breaker, but enough to paralyze a swimmer. You wouldn’t see any thrashing in the water, or hear a call for help. Later, a drowned person would be pulled from the water with no clue provided as to the cause of the drowning.