Lake Stevens student dies 9 days after being pulled from school pool

LAKE STEVENS -- Given what they’ve been through, a pool is the last place the family of Fedrick Nifasha thought they had to worry about.

“Fedrick lived his entire life in a refugee camp in Tanzania. His father lived in that refugee camp for 37 years and they finally came to the United States and then they lose their son,” said attorney Sim Osborn.

A 21-year-old man with epilepsy and a learning disability, Fedrick was enrolled in a special needs program through the Lake Stevens School District.  The students met in an off-site building, but on Fridays often went on field trips.  On May 31, they went to the Lake Stevens High School pool.

“I know that Fedrick’s parents did not sign a permission slip for him to go. I know he couldn’t swim and was not supposed to be in the water,” said Osborn.

It's still unclear as to how Fedrick got into the water, but he was found on the bottom of the pool after a staff member noticed he was unaccounted for.

“From the reports I’ve received, it was a very quick turn-around from when they noticed he was not on deck to him being pulled out,” Jayme Taylor, with the Lake Stevens School District, said.

Osborn says that’s not true.

“He was under water for a significant period of time. There is a seven-minute window and the neurologist believes he exceeded that by a good period of time,” said Osborn.

Fedrick Nifasha died Sunday afternoon at Providence Regional Medical Center in Everett after he was removed from life support.

It's the second school drowning in our state in the past year and a half.  Antonio Reyes died at Wenatchee High School in November 2011.  He also could not swim.  Now, the Wenatchee School District tests each freshman for their swimming ability.

Sharon Wright oversees the swim program in the Kent School District, and says she had to go to additional training after the Wenatchee incident.  She understands how important it is to keep eyes on the pool at all times.

“We’ve had students hit their heads on the wall, or get cramps. We had a young man who had epilepsy and we watch for that, but he’s good at communicating with us,” said Wright.

Fedrick Nifasha wasn't.  His native language was Swahili and he barely spoke English.  His family knows one thing -- he never should have been in that water.

“There are a lot of unanswered questions and the family has asked me to get to the bottom of it and we’re going to do that,” said Osborn.