Swimming Instructor Charged In Drowning Death Of 4-Year-Old Black Child

A swim instructor has been implicated in the drowning death of a child in Georgia. The police said she was giving lessons in a swimming pool in the backyard of a house.

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation has been directed to issue an arrest warrant for Lexie Tenhuisen on a misdemeanor charge of involuntary manslaughter, according to Augusta Judicial Circuit District Attorney Jared Williams, on December 30.

“Izzy Scott is not a case. He is not a file on a desk nor an article in the news. He is a child whose loss has broken the heart of our community. He is a symbol of how we should cherish our little ones and hold them tight,” Williams said with great sadness.

Williams noted that the choice was made following months of careful research, examination and legal analysis. The Burke County Sheriff’s Office initially decided against pressing charges concerning the incident that killed 4-year-old Israel “Izzy” Scott on June 14, 2022.

Scott was one of 10 children who attended Tenhuisen’s lessons that day at a Hephzibah home, according to PEOPLE. In the document, Tenhuisen told police she had encouraged the kids to submerge their heads as much as possible as they took a lap around the shallow end of the pool.

As the lesson was coming to an end, Scott somehow found himself in the deep end, according to the police report. The rest of the students, including Tenhiusen, had already exited the pool by that time. She admitted to police that she had missed the boy’s disappearance until her granddaughter, who was about to use the pool vacuum, found his lifeless body at the bottom of the pool.

According to the police report, Tenhuisen jumped back into the pool right away to save the boy. Tenhuisen and a parent who also happened to be a registered nurse performed CPR on the unconscious boy.

The boy wasn’t breathing on his own when Deputies and EMS personnel arrived. They continued CPR until they felt a pulse; Scott was transported via ambulance to a nearby hospital, where he later passed away.

Dori Scott, the boy’s mother, was waiting outside in her car when she learned what had happened. Tenhuisen allegedly forbids parents from entering the swimming area while their children are taking lessons.

Tenhuisen told police she was unsure of the circumstances surrounding the boy’s drowning death.

“Tenhuisen claimed that the only thing that she can think of in her mind is that while the kids were swimming, he got a little too close to the drop-off, but she doesn’t remember that because there was just splashing, and she was watching them swim across,” the document read.

The Burke County Sheriff’s Office initially reported that the boy’s death by drowning was an accident and not the result of criminal activity. D.A. Williams, however, has said he agrees with Scott’s family and the Burke County Solicitor General’s Office that legal consequences are called for.

“Why should a child so innocent, so precious, leave us so young? How could the law be so insufficient, placing no safeguards over the very people who are entrusted as lifeguards over our children,” Williams noted.

Walter Scott, Israel’s father, released a statement to WFXG praising the D.A.’s decision.

“Any time you leave a child under the care of someone else and you don’t get that child back the same way that you sent them off, then that person ultimately is responsible, to whatever extent it may be,” he said.

The Scott family has created an organization in honor of Israel to cope with their loss and move forward with their lives.

A GoFundMe campaign initiated by Naomi Jones aims to help raise awareness and change laws that protect children from instructor-led drownings and other forms of child neglect.

“Our goal is to help raise awareness and change laws that will protect children against instructor-led drownings and more. We are determined that our sweet IZZY’s death will not be in vain,” the GoFundMe page read.

Tenhuisen, a resident of North Carolina, was expected to travel back to Georgia to answer for the accusation. It is unclear whether she has retained a lawyer who could represent her.

May Izzy rest in peace. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family during this difficult time.