MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (WBTW) — The family of an 11-year-old, Trenton Piper, who drowned at Beach Colony Resort in June 2019 filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the resort.
Piper was pulled from the indoor pool on June 2, 2019 and given CPR before being transported to Grand Strand Regional Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead, according to the lawsuit.
The Horry County Coroner ruled Piper’s cause of death as asphyxiation due to drowning.
The lawsuit alleges that the resort was negligent by “failing to follow their own policies, procedures, and rules regarding the operation, use, maintenance, and management of their pools and pool areas.”
The lawsuit also claims the resort failed to have a lifeguard on duty, failed to protect against or report unsafe, dangerous, or defective conditions at the pool at the time of the incident. The lawsuit also said the resort didn’t properly hire, train, or supervise their employees, or have an appropriate number of staff to ensure the safety of guests.
The lawsuit claims the resort didn’t provide, maintain, safeguard, inspect, or test proper lifesaving equipment at the pool.
The family said the resort’s neglect is what lead to Piper’s wrongful death.
The lawsuit claims the family has suffered “great mental anguish, emotional distress, suffering, grief, sorrow, bereavement, and loss of comfort and companionship.”
The family is seeking an unspecified amount of money for their “pain and suffering, shock and terror, mental and emotional distress, medical bills, funeral expenses, and severe injury to the whole person.”