New Jersey family of 3 drowned after mom, grandad tried to save 8-year-old girl despite not knowing how to swim
EAST BRUNSWICK, NEW JERSEY: An eight-year-old girl and two of her family members who were found dead in their family swimming pool, actually died from accidental drownings, the Middlesex County Regional Medical Examiner’s Office said Wednesday, June 24.
The victims have been identified as Bharat Patel, 62, his 33-year old daughter-in-law Nisha Patel and her 8-year-old daughter – identified by neighbors as Sacchi Patel. All of them lived in the house on Clearview Road, which the family bought in April for $451,000, public records stated.
The statement from the medical examiner’s office also said that the investigation is still on, but “it was determined that electricity did not play a part in the death of these three victims”. Earlier it was speculated that the members of the Patel family died due to electrocution. “The above-ground pool was mostly shallow at 3½ feet deep, but there was a portion of the pool that was 7 feet deep. It doesn’t appear that the victims knew how to swim,” the official statement added.
According to a New York Post report, the tragic ordeal began on June 22 when the young girl jumped into the six or seven-foot-deep section of the above-ground swimming pool. An aunt who was watching the child then called for help, prompting the girl's grandfather, Bharat, to jump in to try to save her, sources said.
However, when the 62-year-old struggled in the water as he did not know swimming, his daughter-in-law, Nisha, jumped in to save the two. But the mother also did not know how to swim and failed to save both her daughter and father-in-law before drowning, law-enforcement sources said. A neighbor who spoke with Bharat before the tragedy said the family recently had the pool fixed, and June 22 may have been the first time they had used it.
On Tuesday, June 23, Mayor Brad Cohen told NJ.com that the “entire East Brunswick community is shocked and saddened.” “Our condolences go out to the family and may they find strength from the community that shares in their grief,” he added.
East Brunswick police arrived at the scene on June 22 after receiving a 911 call at around 4.18 pm from a neighbor after they heard screams. When officers arrived, they found the three bodies drowned in the oval-shaped pool at the property. Lieutenant Frank Sutter said at the time at a press conference outside the property: “A neighbor heard screaming and dialed 911. It came in as a fall victim but turned out to be a drowning. All the deceased were taken out of the pool, and CPR was done. They were all pronounced in the backyard.”
At the time, a neighbor of the family said the family members may have died due to electrocution. CBS New York reported that the presence of an electrician's truck at the house raised more questions. "The fact that they had an electrician's truck show up shortly thereafter. It wouldn't make sense that three people just drowned right away like that. With an adult there, too," neighbor Phil Peterson said.