Steilacoom faces lawsuit in boy’s drowning at summer camp. Was he properly supervised?
The town of Steilacoom faces a lawsuit alleging summer camp staff left a 13-year-old who couldn’t swim unsupervised at an Anderson Island lake before he drowned last summer.
Darrell “DJ” McCutcheon Jr. died on July 15 after he was airlifted to Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital from Florence Lake, also known as the Old Swimming Hole. Officials canceled summer camp programs the following week.
“It’s an exceptionally sad case involving the death of a young child that should never have been allowed to occur,” an attorney for the family, Jack Connelly, wrote in a statement. “The family was depending on those running the camp for proper safety and supervision and want to make sure that this doesn’t ever happen to another family’s child.”
The lawsuit alleging wrongful death and gross negligence seeks unspecified damages. Court papers show the family filed a tort claim, a precursor to the lawsuit, in November.
The town of Steilacoom declined to comment on the pending lawsuit.
“Court filings are public records and those interested in the status of the lawsuit are encouraged to review the public court files,” an attorney from Olympia-based law firm Law, Lyman, Daniel, Kamerrer & Bogdanovich told The News Tribune on behalf of the town.
According to the lawsuit, a camp counselor left a group of older children at the lake without checking who could swim while he picked up another group of kids from the ferry. The children got in the water, and McCutcheon tried to swim 30 to 40 feet to reach a platform.
“It was readily apparent to those on the shore that he was not able to swim, and he began to bob up and down in the water,” the lawsuit states. “DJ asked for help but there was no one there to help him, and he stopped moving and went under water.”
McCutcheon was underwater for several minutes before he was given first aid, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit also alleges the summer camp failed to require life jackets while swimming.
McCutcheon’s mother is involved in the Tacoma chapter of Jack and Jill of America, Inc., which puts on programming geared toward Black youth, according to a GoFundMe page for funeral and legal costs. His father is a non-commissioned officer at Joint Base Lewis-McChord.
“To lose a child, especially one of such tender years, is every parent’s worst nightmare,” the lawsuit states. “The loss of a young life is a heartwrenching tragedy. DJ’s parents and family will live with this loss day in and day out for the rest of their live.”
