Services for Walson set for this Friday.
By: Lea Kahn
A 6-year-old boy drowned Monday afternoon in the backyard swimming pool at his home on Province Line Road, police said.
Christopher Florian Walson was playing in the pool with five other boys when the accident occurred. The boy was discovered lying on the bottom of the pool by an adult who was in the pool with the youngsters, police said.
Paramedics could not revive the boy, who was pulled out of the swimming pool at around 4:45 p.m., police said. He was pronounced dead an hour later at the Capital Health System at Fuld Hospital in Trenton.
Christopher was playing in the pool with the other youngsters, under the supervision of the mother of one of the other children, police said. The victim’s mother had gone to the store to buy refreshments.
The woman who was supervising the children told police she was playing with the other boys and she had turned her back on him for about a minute or so. When she turned around, he was lying on the bottom of the pool.
Another child swam down to the bottom of the pool to bring him up, police said. The boy told the woman that he was not moving. She pulled him from the bottom of the pool and tried to revive him, police said.
Patrolman Mark Harmon and paramedics from the Lawrence Township First Aid and Rescue Squad and the Capital Health System at Fuld Hospital responded to the 911 call. They tried to revive him while he was en route to the hospital.
"It was a tragic accident," said police Lt. Bryson Edgar. "This is an incident that could have happened in anyone’s pool. It is an unfortunate wake-up call for people to pay attention to their children when they are in the pool. They have to be vigilant and watch the children."
Funeral services for Christopher, who was a kindergarten student at the Ben Franklin Elementary School, will be held Friday at 2 p.m. at Trinity Church at 33 Mercer St., Princeton.