Swimmer Playing With Child At Crowded County Pool DiesArmstrong County's Autopsy On Andrew Lytle InconclusivePOSTED: 9:57 pm EDT August 16,
2009 WEST KITTANNING, Pa. -- A 25-year-old man was found unresponsive in the water at a public pool on Sunday and died after witnesses said he had been tossing a sponge ball with his girlfriend's child.Andrew Frank Lytle was found at the bottom of the pool at the Belmont Complex, which is owned and operated by Armstrong County on Butler Road.WTAE Channel 4's Jim Parsons reported that eight Red Cross-certified lifeguards -- twice as many as state law requires -- were on duty at the Olympic-size pool where about 200 swimmers were enjoying the day.None of the guards noticed Lytle motionless at the bottom of the shallow section until another swimmer did."I'm not going to point fingers until I have any information I can use, and right now, I don't want to point fingers. I'm just trying to gather the facts," Belmont Pool Director Gary Montebell said.Police said Lytle was seen by witnesses and lifeguards using a ball to play catch with the 11-year-old son of his girlfriend. The child left for another area of the pool, and about 10 minutes later, Lytle was found by other swimmers, who notified a guard."The last time the ball was thrown, he didn't come up, and there were so many people in the pool, they just didn't realize where (Lytle) was at," East Franklin Township Police Sgt. William Evans said.The pool's policy allows swimmers to throw balls to each other."As long as it's a soft Nerf ball, and it's in that (shallow) vicinity, it's permittable," Montebell said. "We're looking at all of our policies now, after this unfortunate incident."Coroner Robert Bower said an autopsy was inconclusive, and toxicology tests have been ordered to hopefully provide more information.
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