Child dies after being found in water on swimming pool cover

Mar. 27—A 5-year-old boy with special needs died Saturday after being found in a neighbor's above-ground swimming pool, officials said.

According to the Oakland County Sheriff's Office, deputies were called to a home in the 1100 block of Devon Street shortly before 4 p.m., about 30 minutes after the child was last seen. The back door had been found open, the sheriff's office said, and the child's grandfather said the boy had tried to leave the home in the past.

The sheriff's search and rescue team, along with other deputies, a crew from the Orion Township fire department and two K-9 units canvassed the area including searching the woods, lake and swamp in the area. Firefighters subsequently located the child on the cover of a swimming pool at a home about a block away from where the boy lived. The cover had at least a foot of standing water on it, the sheriff's said. Paramedics immediately started CPR on the boy and transported him to an area hospital where died a short time later.

It's believed the boy used the pool ladder to get on top of the cover, the sheriff's office said.

An autopsy was to confirm the cause and manner of death, the sheriff's office said.

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